UP STF arrests two selling prohibited drugs

Lucknow, June 14 A Special Task Force (STF) team has arrested two men selling prohibited drugs, medicines and psychotropic substances.

The two were arrested on Tuesday. The accused allegedly made huge profits by using customer data from the dark web and charged money through e-wallets/bitcoins from Abidi Apartment in Golaganj locality under Wazirganj police station limits of Lucknow.

"The accused has been identified as Salman Hashmi, a resident of Aishbagh in Bazaarkhala, and Al Zaid, a resident of Dubagga in Lucknow," said the STF spokesman .

Police recovered 370 strips of medicines/ drugs, a laptop, as many as seven ATM cards and credit cards, four mobile phones, and Aadhaar Cards, among other documents.

A scooter and cash worth Rs 1,500 were also found from possession of the accused.

"Salman was the leader of the gang. He was running the drug cartel from his flat at the Abidi Apartment for a long time," said the spokesman.

An STF team was tasked to work on the case and nab the culprits. The initial investigation led the probe needle to turn to Salman and the team members started keeping a tab on him.