CCB officials arrest tattoo artiste trying to peddle hydro ganja for New Year’s Eve celebrations

A file photo of New Year revelry at Brigade Road in Bengaluru on December 31, 2023.
| Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

Officials of the Anti Narcotics Wing of the Central Crime Branch busted an international drug racket and arrested a 30-year-old tattoo artiste for peddling drugs for the upcoming new year celebrations.

The police have recovered 3.5 kg of Hydro Ganja, 16 kg of Marijuana, 40 LSD strips, 130 grams of Charas and 2.3 grams of MDMA crystals – worth a total of ₹2.5 crore – from him.

The accused identified as Rakshith Ramesh, was operating from his apartment in Chokkanahalli and supplied the drugs concealed in cake and biscuit packs to his clients to avoid undue attention.

The accused was operating with his associate, who is presently on the run, and efforts are on to secure him, the police said.

Drugs sourced from Thailand

Probe revealed that the accused used to source the drugs from their contacts in Thailand and get the consignment in ships to Chennai concealed in snack packets, a senior police official said. These are hard to detect in scanners due to the packaging.

The accused would then transport it through roadways from the neighbouring port, the officials added.

They were trying to approach organisers and individuals who wanted to buy drugs for the new year party when, based on a tip-off, a team busted the racket.

Rakshith was operating for the last 1.5 years and had visited Thailand many times. The police have seized his two mobile phones and efforts are on to track down people who are in his network .

Earlier cases

In similar crackdowns, police from Electronics City, Yelahanka New Town, Rajgopal Nagar, Basaveshwara Nagar, Govindaraja Nagar, Vijaya Nagar and Kamakshipalya have made similar seizures and recovered as many as 33 kg of ganja, arresting 11 peddlers from in and around the city.

These drugs were being sourced from different directions including Tripura, Odisha, Manipura and Jharkhand into the city to be sold during the new year.