Hyderabad: Drug smugglers recruiting elderly people as ‘courier agents’
Hyderabad: In a novel way aimed at evading the scrutiny of enforcement officials, drug traffickers in Hyderabad and neighbouring states are these days recruiting elderly people as ‘drug courier agents’. Recently, officials have come across cases of senior citizens being used to smuggle marijuana and other narcotics. Recently, officials of the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TGANB) arrested an elderly woman carrying marijuana and smuggling it in a vegetable basket to consumers. Investigation revealed that she has transported drugs worth lakhs in the last few months. Moreover, a check of her bank account revealed transactions worth lakhs. With the state government, especially the Hyderabad police, conducting regular raids, busting drug rackets and making arrests, drug dealers are now resorting to the elderly, especially those living alone, for drug smuggling.
These lonely elderly people, who are vulnerable and in need of money, are forced to smuggle narcotics in exchange for small commissions and alcohol. “Drug smuggler gangs from other states are exploiting the elderly to carry drugs through the Andhra-Odisha border area. Within the city, they are used as courier agents to deliver small quantities of drugs to consumers,” a police officer said. They are also used as shadows to ensure delivery of consignments as they do not figure in the suspect list of most law enforcement agencies, the officer said. “Drug smugglers rely on elderly couriers as they are usually not given much attention and are not monitored,” the officer said. Police officers say that recently techies, employees of reputed private firms and even those from the medical field have been involved in the drug racket. Though the increased vigilance on drug networks has now forced smugglers to stay away from the trade or go into hiding for some time, some small drug smugglers are returning after being released from jail.
