DCP D Mary Prasanthi and other officers with evidence collected in the DST courier case at a news conference in Vijayawada. (Photo| Prasant Madugala, EPS)
DCP D Mary Prasanthi and other officers with evidence collected in the DST courier case at a news conference in Vijayawada. (Photo| Prasant Madugala, EPS)

Vijayawada police arrest Chennai-based smuggler in Bengaluru drug case

DCP D Mary Prasanthi said that Arunachalam has been into transport business for the past eight years and visited Vijayawada four times from last March to January.

VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada city police on Tuesday arrested one Kuppusami Arunachalam Venkateshan of Chennai, who reportedly booked a parcel containing Ephedrine drug to Australia.

A team of city police arrested him at Chennai airport on Tuesday night while he was allegedly smuggling electronic items such as iPhones, DVD players, laptops, memory cards, batteries among others from Dubai. Electronic items worth Rs 25 lakh were recovered from him.

Based on a complaint from a native of Sattenapalli, Kondaveeti Gopi Sai, whose changed Aadhaar was used to book the parcel, Vijayawada police registered a case under Sections 420, 467, 471 r/w 34 of the IPC.

Addressing mediapersons on Wednesday, DCP D Mary Prasanthi said that Arunachalam has been into transport business for the past eight years and visited Vijayawada four times from last March to January this year to conduct recce on courier offices and their functioning.

After finding that sending Ephedrine powder from Vijayawada is safe, Arunachalam sent the banned drug hidden in readymade clothes to a person in Australia, which unfortunately reached Canada due to wrong address slip and was returned to Bengaluru airport on April 27.

Based on a specific intelligence input, the consignment weighing 4.496 kg of Ephedrine was recovered from the parcel at the International Courier Terminal at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru by different agencies, including Airport Customs.

Soon after the seizure, the courier agent Guttula Teja was arrested and produced before the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court. "Following the information from the Bengaluru airport customs department that they caught the courier agent pertaining to the incident, we immediately formed three teams to probe the smuggling," said the DCP Mary Prasanthi.

Based on a complaint from Gopi Sai that his Aadhaar was being misused by unknown persons and used at the time of booking the courier to Australia at DST couriers on January 31 by the accused, Patamata police registered a case under Sections 420,467,471 r/w 34 of the IPC.

"During the investigation, it came to our notice that Gopi Sai's Aadhaar card is being misused by Venkateshan. Gopi Sai completed his engineering at a private college in Chennai recently. Venkateshan obtained Gopi's Aadhaar card from a lodge in Triplicane and he made a copy of it and replaced the image with his and used it for booking the consignment," she said.

According to police sources, a team from Vijayawada city police began search in Chennai for the other two accused in the Ephedrine smuggling.“Arunachalam acted as a transporter of smuggling goods like electronic items in the past.

He earlier worked under a cell phone trader and left the job during the COVID pandemic due to personal reasons. During that time, Venkateshan met two persons from the same locality and got himself into the Ephedrine smuggling gang.

"We suspect the role of an organised gang behind this and continuing the investigation along with other enforcement agencies such as Customs, Narcotics control bureau and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)," said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

Vijayawada police commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata said that Venkateshan choose Vijayawada as a transit point to book the parcel as the two other cargo terminals at Bengaluru and Chennai have hi-tech security system. "The accused will be handed over to Bengaluru airport customs for further investigation. Meanwhile, a manhunt is on to nab other accused," he said.

A missed parcel, drug bust and arrest

Police arrested Chennai man, who reportedly booked parcel containing Ephedrine to Australia

April 28: Customs at Bengaluru airport found Ephedrine powder worth Rs 90 lakh hidden among readymade garments

Agencies collected details of parcel and courier agency, which led to Guttula Teja, who runs DST Couriers in Vijayawada

April 29: Teja arrested and produced before an NDPS court

May 2: Andhra Pradesh police joined probe, formed three teams

Andhra Pradesh police team visited Garlapadu village of Sattenapalli mandal in Palnadu district on Monday in search of Kondaveeti Gopi Sai, on whose name the courier was booked, and found that a duplicate Aadhaar card of Gopi Sai was used while booking the courier to Australia at DST Couriers on January 31

Andhra Pradesh police suspected role of a man from Chennai in the whole episode sent a team to Chennai

May 11: NTR District Police said they have arrested one Arunachalam, of Chennai, who allegedly booked Ephedrine drug powder parcel through dsT couriers on January 31

What courier agent said

  • Basha said a person, Kondaveeti Gopi Sai of Sattenapalli town in Palnadu approached DST in Vijayawada on January 31, and asked Teja to send the parcel to his relatives in Australia.

  • Teja objected to the 'inappropriate' Aadhaar card produced for booking the consignment

  • Agent booked the parcel using his Aadhaar card after being requested, and sent the shipment to the courier agency's head office in Hyderabad

  • Consignment was addressed to a person in Australia but ended up in Canada due to a wrong address slip pasted on it and it was returned to Bengaluru

What is Ephedrine

Ephedrine, used overseas to treat asthma and bronchitis, when misused, causes euphoria, hallucinations, delusions, hypertension and nausea. Its sale and export is banned in India under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985

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