Visakhapatnam: In a major breakthrough against drug smuggling, Visakhapatnam city police in Andhra Pradesh has arrested six alleged drug smugglers and seized 7,000 narcotic injections from their possession smuggled from West Bengal, officials said. The revelation was made by Commissioner of Police (CP) Trivikrama Varma at a press conference in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
Addressing the pressesr, CP Varma identified the arrested accused as K. Haripadma Raghavarao, B. Srinu, B. Lakshmi, G. Venkatasai, P. Ravi, and K. Chiranjeevi. Five more accused identified as P. Appalaraju, Pitani Ravi, Satyam, V. Jagadish, and Durgaprasad, all resident of Kharagpur are absconding in the case.
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Reliable sources said that the accused were arrested during raids launched by the Visakhapatnam city police in different parts of the city. The accused were arrested red-handed while smuggling the narcotic injections. A total of nine cases have been registered against accused Haripadma Raghava Rao in particular, police said.
CP Trivikrama Varma said that the seized narcotic injections are used only to induce anesthesia during normal surgical procedures at hospitals. However, there is a risk of death if taken in high doses, he said. He said that a special task force of the police conducted raids on the 14th and 17th of this month and seized 4,150 narcotic injections in the area of the second town police station.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) has also seized 3,100 narcotic injections, and arrested two alleged drug smugglers in the case. An official said that SEB officers conducted raids in Seethammadhara Kanakapuveedhi, Maduravada and arrested G. Umamahesh and B. Venkatesh with the injections.
