Former NASA employee caught in drug bust in Hyderabad

The drug scene in Hyderabad is getting murkier by the day. It started with news of drug busts here and there in the city, then news of schools being involved in drug rackets caught the eye of the nation and now Tollywood personalities are also suspected to be involved in this huge drug nexus.

Latest in this story is that a former NASA scientist, Anish Dundoo, 29, has been arrested on grounds of possessing narcotics drugs and trading in bitcoins . He has been identified as an aerospace engineer from the USA. 16 blots of LSD procured from darknet sites (hidden marketplace on the Internet) were found to be in his possession. He, along with his aide, Ritul Agarwal, a businessman, have been nabbed by the police. Ritul was in possession of cannabis.

Anish is said to have been a resident in the city for the past three years and was working on a start-up idea.  The Special Task Force had been on their tail for the past few weeks with all the drug busts happening in the city by tracing call details of local peddlers. In that investigation, the names of Anish and Ritul cropped up more than once.

An Aero Space Engineer formerly with with#NASA arrested by #Telangana Excise department with 16 blots of LSD #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/Vj7XjXoa89

— Aashish(@Ashi_IndiaToday) July 12, 2017

According to a report in the Times of India, Anish was intercepted at his office near Paradise in Secunderabad, following which Ritul was picked up from Nampally. The report also states that Anish told the excise sleuths that he had been purchasing drugs from `Lunacy' market place on the Darknet by paying through Bitcoins. They had been receiving their parcels through couriers and the origin of these parcels seem to be Netherlands.

A New Indian Express report details what all Anish had bought from his visits to the Lunacy market place. nish ordered five Ecstasy pills(green ecstacy) and 2 gm of MDMA on May 17. He also ordered 10 papers (100s of blots) of LSD in the last week of May. Further, he ordered for 2 gm of cocaine and 100 Ecstasy pills (pink), 10 gm of MDMA, 6 gm of cocaine and 50 Ecstasy pills (green).

The Excise Department has been on their toes because of these incidents. The recent arrests and drug busts show how far the drug mafia has spread in the city.

• Anish Dundoo
• NASA scientist caught with drugs
• Telangana news