Ghana national among six held for selling cocaine, LSD in Hyd

Police today arrested a Ghanaian drug peddler and five students for allegedly selling the contraband narcotics here.
Police seized 48 grams of cocaine and 207 LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) "stamps" from their possession.
On a tip-off, police laid a trap and apprehended Adefule Michael (37), the Ghana national, besides Akshay Kannoli, Shishir Chauhan, Rahul Sunny, Kapish Agarwal and A Rohith Rao, all collegians pursuing different courses, while they were allegedly selling cocaine near Secunderabad Club, police stated in a release.
According to police, Kannoli, who hails from Kerala, is an LSD addict and used to travel to Goa to get the "LSD drug stamps".

He came into contact with Michael, who is supplying cocaine and LSD drugs in Hyderabad, and started purchasing the drug from him for his own consumption before he started selling the LSD drug stamps for higher rates to needy students and customers.
"He developed friendship with Shishir Chauhan and they hatched a plan to sell the LSD drug stamps in Hyderabad at high rates," stated the release.

Other accused namely Rao, Agarwal and Sunny came into contact with Kannoli through Chauhan and started buying the stuff from him for Rs 1,200 per stamp. They would sell if off for Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,700 per stamp to the customers, according to police.

Michael, who is staying in Sainikpuri here and doing business, came to India in 2012 on business Visa and started exporting clothes to Ghana from Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Michael came into contact with some Nigerian drug peddlers operating in different countries who promised him a huge premium for joining in their drug cartel, following which he started working as a drug peddler.
"Michael was purchasing cocaine from one Peter, a resident of Mumbai, for Rs 3,000 per gram and selling the same for Rs 5,000 to 6,000 to customers in Hyderabad city.
"For first-timers, sometimes a cryptic password like 'book', 'charlie' etc. Is passed on by an existing consumer. Once the new consumer calls the supplier and gives the password, he becomes part of the chain," police said.

Further investigations are being conducted to unearth Michael's network with other local and foreign drug dealers.