Hyderabad: The arrest of a 17-year-old boy with 10 kg of Ganja from a railway station in Hyderabad has exposed a cross-country racket in the trafficking of narcotics using juveniles as couriers.
The Ganja had been procured from Malkangiri in Odisha by a drug syndicate in Mumbai. The teenager was on his way to Mumbai with the consignment when he was arrested by Telangana’s Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement (EAGLE Force) and personnel of the S R Nagar police station from the Nature Cure Hospital MMTS Station in Hyderabad.
The boy was waiting at the station to board a train to Mumbai when officials searched his sky-blue travel bag and recovered the five packets of Ganja, meticulously wrapped in brown tape.
Along with the drugs, police seized other incriminating materials that shed light on a well-organized trafficking network, as reported by NDTV.
It has come to light that the juvenile is a resident of Mumbai, where he worked as a tempo cleaner. He came from a financially poor background and got easily lured into the trade.
The police have pieced together an intricate delivery trail. In late December 2025, the prime accused, Hazi Shafiullah Shaik, allegedly tricked the minor into travelling to Odisha under the guise of transporting a tempo, offering a meager Rs 1,500 for the job.
The teen travelled to Malkangiri, where he met another operative named Mehfuz. On January 4, Mehfuz took the minor to Hyderabad. At the Nature Cure station, Mehfuz handed over the Ganja-filled bag with instructions to deliver it to Shaik’s mother-in-law, identified only as Khala, in Mumbai.
A case has been registered under Sections 8(c), 20(b)(ii)(B), and 29 of the NDPS Act, in addition to Section 78 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, which deals with the exploitation of children for illicit activities.
The police have launched a massive manhunt for the three prime suspects based in Mumbai. Hazi Shafiullah Shaik is said to be the main accused, whole Mehfuz was the supplier and Khala the receiver/receiver’s kin.
The use of minors is a “desperate and dangerous” attempt by syndicates to bypass the heightened surveillance at major transit hubs, an official of EAGLE Force has been quoted as saying by the channel.
