Drug peddler and wife held in Banjara Hills, cocaine seized

HYDERABAD: A drug peddler and his wife were arrested in upscale Banjara Hills on Tuesday when they were planning to meet a customer to deliver drugs. Excise sleuths seized nine gm of cocaine and Rs 3 lakh from the couple.
Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths laid a trap and caught the accused — Shaik Fahad, 37, and wife Salima Rabiul Shaik, 27, — near Sai Baba temple on Road No.12. Apart from the contraband, a Maruti Swift car, debit/credit card swiping machine and four cellphones were also seized. The couple are residents of Baksh Residency in Brindavan Colony, Tolichowki.
The sleuths had arrested Fahad’s associates — B Santosh and Mohammed Masood — at Film Nagar on June 2 and seized seven gm of cocaine, two gm of opium and Rs 1.13 lakh. At that time, Fahad had managed to escape in his car.
During investigation, it was found that Fahad has also been operating brothels in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills since eight years. He was arrested by Jubilee Hills police in January 2018.
After coming out of prison, Fahad took a house on rent at Road No. 5 in Film Nagar for Rs 75,000 a month and started operating a brothel from there, said assistant excise superintendent, N Anji Reddy.
Fahad noticed that some of the customers used cocaine and decided to sell it to make additional money. He used to buy cocaine from a Nigerian for Rs 6,000 a gram and sell it to customers for Rs 7,500.