Hyderabad: Nine medical students, including two women, tested positive for ganja use after a targeted raid on a private medical college hostel in Ghanpur, Medchal–Malkajgiri district. The operation by the Eagle (Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement) task force followed the arrest of two suppliers and the seizure of six kilograms of ganja.
Officials said 32 students from the college were identified as customers through UPI transaction records linked to the arrested smuggler Arafat. Urine tests were conducted on 24 students, with nine testing positive. Those students received counselling in the presence of parents, the principal, and hostel wardens before being shifted to a de-addiction centre.
UPI trail links Hyderabad medical students to ganja racket
Investigators traced Arafat’s network after his arrest in Secunderabad on August 1. His phone and payment app histories revealed 100 customers, of whom 32 were from the Ghanpur Medical College. The data also exposed transactions with Bidar-based supplier Zarina Bhanu, who was arrested with four kilograms of ganja. Police found ₹20 lakh worth of transfers from 51 peddlers into her accounts, with total sales over the past year estimated at ₹1.5 crore.
Arafat, 23, from Risala Bazaar in Bolarum, had sourced ganja from Zarina in bulk, targeting engineering and medical students in Hyderabad’s outskirts. He initially sold at low prices to hook users, later expanding his chain network within campuses and hostels. Payment was largely routed through Google Pay and PhonePe. Arafat has previous cases registered at Tukaramgate (2022) and Alwal (2024) police stations, and was absconding in the latter.
Eagle task force director Sandeep Shandilya urged the public to report drug use or supply networks via toll-free number 1908 or 8712671111.