Andhra Pradesh: 25-year-old arrested on charge of drug peddling, 63 LSD blots seized in Visakhapatnam

Accused allegedly procured drugs from his contacts on a social media group, says Police Commissioner

In a joint operation, the officials from the Anti-Narcotics Cell of the City Task Force (CTF) and the Law & Order Police conducted a raid and arrested a 25-year-old man on charges of peddling drug in Gajuwaka area of the city on Saturday. The team seized seized 63 blots of Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), a psychedelic drug and a cellphone from his possession.

The accused has been identified as Bhaviripudi Girish Teja Naidu (25), a resident of Kanithi Road in Gajuwaka.

Commissioner of Police Ch. Srikanth told the media that the accused reportedly started consuming drugs some months ago and started selling them to earn quick money.

Girish allegedly procured the drugs from some unidentified persons, believed to be natives of Hyderabad, whom he met on the social media. The Police Commissioner said that the accused procured each LSD blot for prices ranging between ₹650 to ₹1,000 and sold them for about ₹2,000 in Visakhapatnam.

“Girish was added to a social media group after he met the key peddlers. They would discuss about drugs in some code language. The accused maintained the group in such a way that the messages in it would be deleted after a specific period. The key peddlers do not provide drugs unless they gain the trust of the consumers. Girish had allegedly ordered 80 LSD blots and sold 17 in his friend’s circle,” Mr. Srikanth said.

The police teams are using technology to retrieve the deleted messages from the social media group.

“The accused allegedly received the drugs through post. It is impossible to identify LSD sachets inside a postal cover as they are just of the size of a postal stamp. We will write to the Postal Department to alert them regarding such trade,” said the Police Commissioner.