Hyderabad: A chance encounter with two passengers who boarded his autorickshaw in 2012 allegedly drew a Hyderabad auto driver into an interstate drug syndicate, turning him into a transporter of narcotics for 14 years.
Officials also found that Fayaz, Dayanand, Kishtaiah and the two chemists had been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in 2014 for allegedly manufacturing ephedrine. Dayanand subsequently introduced Kishtaiah to Fayaz Ahmed Rasool Sheikh, who allegedly played a key role in arranging personnel and logistics for the gang’s drug manufacturing units in Hayathnagar, Choutuppal, Kushaiguda and Jeedimetla.
Another clandestine unit was found in Malegaon, Maharashtra, police said. After spending more than six months in judicial remand, they secured bail and started continuing the operations as usual. Fayaz was subsequently arrested by Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh police in other cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. He remains in jail, while the trial in the case registered by the NCB is underway.