Hyderabad: Following a complaint from the staff of the educational institutions located in Abids regarding the sale of banned e-cigarettes and vapes among students, Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TGANB) and Hyderabad city police busted gang for selling the contraband in and around the schools and colleges in Abids. The police apprehended two persons and seized 1,217 e-cigarettes worth Rs 25 lakh. They also identified 13 juvenile students below the age of 18 years of being sucked into drug abuse at a tender age.

According to the police, the TGANB and city police conducted drug awareness campaigns in the educational institutions located in Abids. Some of the teachers of the institutions raised their doubts regarding the selling of e-cigarettes as well as Vapes to the youth and children at Abids. Then the TGANB kept surveillance at schools and colleges including Little Flower School, St Marys Jr College, St George Grammar School, Rosary Convent High School, Sujatha High School and Jr College located at Abids.

With the efforts of TGANB, it was found that Sadiq Lalani and his brother Anil Lalani of Nampally are involved in illegal sale of intoxicating vapes and banned e-cigarettes in Abids and other parts of Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh.

During the investigation, the accused revealed that they are selling these contraband to the youth as well as to the school going minor children by creating a WhatsApp group with nearly 500 people in the name of ‘SID’ and advertising the new product if any arrived in this group.

A senior police officer said that the accused has been purchasing the contraband from Amit of New Delhi and Waseem of Mumbai. Both brothers are utilising the services of Hawala operators Mangi Ramji Goutham and CR Sharma to send money if it is higher than Rs 50,000. They also used Rapido, Uber and DTDC to deliver these e-cigarettes.

During the course of investigation, the police identified 13 juvenile students along with their phone numbers where the local police would be visiting their houses and counselling their parents.

Besides this, the police have positively identified more than 400 users, who are a part of this group from the UPI, WALLet, Bhim, bank transactions ad replies received from Rapido, Uber and DTDC Couriers. The police registered a case U/s 7 r/w 4 PEC & 77 Juvenile Justice Act registered on April 20. Moreover, the case was also made out on DTDC Courier and Uber and Rapido for their negligence in not screening the parcels and supplying the same to the youth and minor children.

The police seized seven carton boxes of banned e-cigarettes of different sizes, shapes and companies. A total of 1,217 contraband worth Rs 25 lakh was seized. Further, seized an amount of Rs 18,440, 225$ USD, Canadian Dollars 100$ from the accused Sadiq Lalani.

TGANB urges students, parents and all citizens of the society to join in this vital mission and report any instances of drug abuse and usage of e-cigarettes and vapes to the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau through toll-free number 1908 or email ID: [email protected].