24 August,2010 07:50 AM IST | | Manjunath L Hanji
A woman who has been running a drugs racket in the city managed to evade arrest for the third time yesterday. The parthenium weed and cannabis that Hasina allegedly mixed with white jaggery and sold as cocaine to unsuspecting customers.
Luck eluded the city police, who have been on the trail of a woman alleged to be the kingpin of a drugs racket, for the third time yesterday when the accused managed to give them the slip yet again.
The cops, however, caught three of her associates in the operation. The 35-year-old woman, who goes by the alias Hasina, has been on the police radar for the past decade.
Acting on a tip-off, the police had laid a trap at Haleguddadehalli near Chamraj Peth early last morning. Around 4.30 am, the four accused were on their way to deliver marijuana when the cops intercepted their van.
On the run
However, on spotting the police vehicle, Hasina jumped off the van and disappeared into the shrubs nearby under cover of darkness.
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The police arrested B Afzal Pasha (19), S Saiyed Shahjahan (24) and M Mohammed Kaleem (26) and also recovered 125 kg of hemp worth Rs 20 lakh from them.
CCB Inspector S Siddaraju said, "The woman has been in this business for the past 10 years. We have launched a manhunt and will nab her soon.
She sources material mainly from Orissa, but sometimes the contraband comes in from Shimoga too. We have asked the Shimoga police to arrest those who are growing and dealing in cannabis illegally."
Disappearing acts
Kaleem told the police that he had been involved in the racket for the past two years and it was Hasina who had inducted him into this business. She allegedly threatened him that she would inform the police if he quit, the police said.
The KR Puram police was unsuccessful in catching Hasina in June 2009.
On May 10 this year, while she managed to escape, the police caught three youth hailing from Orissa. Three other gang members were arrested earlier for selling spurious marijuana and cheating people.
Spread like a weed
Hasina apparently lives on the outskirts of the city. According to the police, her suppliers are based in Orissa and Hyderabad. Five of her agents are currently cooling their heels in Parattana Agrahara (Central jail) in the city.
Hasina is a wholesale supplier of drugs in the city, the police said, adding that she has employed several agents to sell the material.
Cheat code
Hasina has been accused of not only supplying drugs, but also cheating her clients. She allegedly sold cannabis mixed with parthenium and white jaggery as cocaine to unsuspecting customers.
However, it was this case of mixed weeds that led the cops to the accused, literally. One of her clients from KR Puram informed the Central Crime Branch about the racket after he was cheated by the gang recently.
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The informer was allegedly beaten up by the gang members when he had confronted them for dealing in spurious narcotics.
Did you know?
Nearly 150 kg of marijuana is sold in the city every month. The agents sell the material to students in prestigious educational institutes and techies working in IT firms
