Buying drugs was as easy as online shopping for Hyderabad school students

The Telangana Excise Department has set up a toll-free number 1800 425 2523 for anyone willing to provide information about drugs. The department assures that the caller's identity will be protected

Pick up the phone, talk to the dealer, place the order, pay online using credit cards or bitcoins and get drugs delivered. That is how easy it was for dozens of school and college students in Telangana to get high-end narcotics like LSD and MDMA.

The Telangana Prohibition and Excise Department officials have so far arrested ten persons, including two on Thursday, involved in a drug racket that trapped schools students as young as 13 or 14 years old as clients. Out of the ten arrested, one is barely 20 years old. "Apart from the 20-year-old who is still studying, seven other accused are settled in good jobs. They hold B.Tech, Hotel Management degrees and one is even an MBA graduate," said Akun Sabharwal, the Director of the Department of Prohibition and Excise.

School and college children featured in the client list of those arrested and to many people's shock, students belonged to over two dozen schools and colleges. Children are said to have spent anywhere between Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 to acquire drugs popularly referred to as Ecstasy and Acid.

Most transactions took place online. Once a regular client refers another new client, drug dealers would supply narcotics on payment. The link would then extend every time another youngster is introduced to drugs. Officials caught some drug pushers redhanded while supplying narcotics to school children.

A special investigation team that is probing the case has decided to keep the identity of the schools as well as the students confidential. While the department has issued an advisory to 26 schools and 27 colleges, names of the students have not been revealed even to school authorities. In the advisory, the department has asked schools to sensitise teachers and students about substance abuse. "Watch out for erratic/deviant behaviour in students," the department has advised schools.

"We are neither revealing the identity of the children nor intend to arrest them. Children who were caught buying drugs when we arrested the peddlers have been handed over to their parents with instructions to take them to rehabilitation centres. A call centre has been set up at our office so we call parents of those students whose names are featuring in the contacts of these peddlers in form of e-mails, WhatsApp or phonebooks. We are suggesting counselling or treatment," Akun Sabharwal added.

Out of the eight arrested, three procured drugs from online and supplied it to pushers who then delivered it to clients, in most cases, young students. The racket, officials say was active in the Greater Hyderabad area. The peddlers' client list mostly included children hailing from other parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and living in hostels in Hyderabad. Officials also found that just two persons, one from Delhi and another from Bengaluru were out of station clients.

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