The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have arrested a Botswana national for selling cocaine in Bangalore.
About 150 gm of cocaine valued at Rs10 lakh was seized from him along with two mobile phones, his passport, Rs1,240 cash and foreign currency.
Raymond David Masahsah, 26, a native of Gaborone in Botswana, was arrested by the Woman and Narcotic Squad of CCB while he was selling cocaine in Ramamurthynagar near Muneshwaranagar ground.
Among his customers were students, including college girls, IT professionals and businessmen.
Masahsah came to India on a business visa. He landed in Delhi in 2011 and made some money by selling wigs and garments.
He turned to selling drugs after he suffered losses in that business, police said.
His contacts in South Africa supplied him drugs through his friend Sandy living in Delhi.
Masahsah used to sell cocaine to his customers in pubs, restaurants, cafes and pizza centres on MG Road, UB City, and other major spots in the city. He was selling it near parks and colleges too.
He charged up to Rs7,000 per gram of cocaine.
Well-planned network for the well-heeled
In Bangalore, cocaine consumers belong to different age groups and professions, but because of the cost factor many of the users are from the affluent sections of society.
At least, that’s what the Women and Narcotics Squad of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police has to say.
“We have found that 98% of the cocaine buyers in Bangalore are software engineers, private firm employees, businessmen, and well-to-do students,” said a senior police officer.
In the Bangalore market, the price for one gram cocaine is about Rs4,000-5,000, but businessmen and techies end up paying Rs6,000-7,000 for one gram.
The peddlers work in clandestine networks to avoid any attention. They give code names like ‘C’, ‘coke’ and ‘Charlie’ to the drug, and until and unless the buyer utters the code word, the peddlers don’t even talk about it.
The peddlers, after settling in the city, target well-known pubs and restaurants to build their customer base. Once a person buys cocaine from them, they give them their number and the code word for future transactions, a police officer revealed.
Once they build up their network in the party circuit, they start targeting a second class of customers in areas like MG Road, Brigade Road, Indiranagar, Hennur and Banaswadi. “Slowly they shift their business network to parks, colleges and schools. Cocaine is sold in all these places in Bangalore from evening till late night,” a senior police officer said.
“In Bangalore, most peddlers are from Nigeria, Jordan and Kenya. They also have local agents in each area. These agents get them customers for a commission,” police said.
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