Scientist’s Accomplice In Drug Racket IAF Wing Commander Arrested  

Hyderabad: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) which busted one of the biggest international drugs rackets recently has arrested a serving wing commander of the Indian Air Force. Wing Commander G Rajasekhar Reddy was nabbed by Nanded police on Monday night on the basis of information shared by the NCB when he was trying to flee to Goa.

NCB sources said that Rajasekhar Reddy was the mastermind of the drugs ring busted in Hyderabad and Bengaluru in which a scientist, Venkat Rama Rao, and his wife were arrested with 231 kg of amphetamine worth Rs 231 crore. He was running a plant to manufacture the drug in the garb of a pharmaceutical unit.

Some other officers are under surveillance for manufacture and supply of psycho-stimulant drugs, considered "cool" and "fashionable" by youngsters in most parts of the world.

Belonging to Hyderabad, Reddy is posted in the Directorate of Information and Technology office of the Western Air Command at Subroto Park in New Delhi, which comes under the IAF headquarters. He was posted in Bengaluru for a long time and he got drugs manufactured in a Hyderabad laboratory through Venkat and another person, Ravi Shankar Rao.

"Reddy is the key person in this international racket where amphetamine was being trafficked to southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia and also to some western countries," said a source. Some more serving officers in the armed forces were under the scanner. However, the IAF has not reacted on the arrest so far.

According to sources, Reddy would be interrogated about the involvement of others, including officers, manufacturers and buyers based in India and abroad, carriers of the drugs and smuggling routes. It is suspected that he was in touch with distributors in several areas and made frequent visits to Hyderabad though his posting is in Delhi. NCB will check his service record, his call details and activities for the last few years.

Officials said that along with the NCB, IAF's intelligence unit was involved in mounting surveillance on Reddy and other senior officers after which Reddy was arrested. When NCB teams arrested Venkat and his wife on Monday, Reddy was in Hyderabad and fled towards Maharashtra, sources said.

He was about to board a bus to Goa from Nanded and was carrying Rs 7.5 lakh in cash, five mobile phones, a document with chemical formula for preparing amphetamine drugs with him, sources said. As soon as the Nanded police received information from NCB's Hyderabad office, they looked for the officer and found him boarding a bus, caught him and handed him over to NCB.

Amphetamine is a potent central nervous system stimulant used as an aphrodisiac and euphoriant. It is the parent compound of other dangerous psychotropic substances such as bupropion, cathinone, MDMA (ecstasy) and methamphetamine. It is widely used in India and major portion is being exported to southeast Asian countries.