Dehradun, Sep 23 Six students pursuing technical education at different institutions in Uttarakhand have been arrested drug trafficking after recovery of 44.61 grams of MDMA from them, police said on Wednesday.
According to the police, the arrested students were working as peddlers for the Delhi-based ‘Sidhu gang’. The arrests were made during a joint operation by the Uttarakhand Police and the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) at various locations in Dehradun.
Dehradun Superintendent of Police (City) Shekhar Suyal told reporters on Wednesday that all the arrested students belong to affluent families from different states and are pursuing various technical education courses at educational institutions in Dehradun and other states.
According to the police, five of the accused study in Dehradun and other one, a local, is studying in Jaipur.
He stated that they allegedly got involved in illegal activities like drug trafficking to fund their expensive lifestyle.
Suyal mentioned that the action was taken following an operation conducted on Tuesday night by a joint team from the Rajpur police station and the ANTF, acting on a tip-off from an informant.
He detailed that four accused — Vedant Chauhan (21), Rachit Sharma (21), Shrikant Mamgai (22), and Chirag Rastogi (24) — were arrested when they were in a car near Shahanshahi Resort on Old Mussoorie Road, and 27.12 grams of MDMA were recovered from them.
Abhishek Thapa (21) and Vaibhav Mamgai (21) were apprehended near the Sahastradhara helipad with 17.49 grams of MDMA.
The police official stated that a case has been registered against the accused at the Rajpur police station under relevant sections of the NDPS Act. The estimated value of the seized narcotic is Rs 4.5 lakh.
Suyal said during interrogation, the accused revealed that they reside in different areas of Dehradun and are pursuing technical education at institutions located here and in other states. They reportedly stated that they worked for a Delhi resident named Siddharth, alias Sidhu, and acted as peddlers for his gang.
According to the police, interrogation revealed that Sidhu or his agents would periodically supply them with MDMA for distribution in Dehradun. The accused also disclosed that, at times, they would travel to places like Punjab, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh to procure MDMA and other narcotics from Sidhu before bringing them to Dehradun.
Police stated that the accused sold the MDMA in Dehradun at high prices, specifically targeting college students.
(PTI News)
