Hyderabad: EAGLE sleuths raided a house in Fatehnagar late on Thursday and arrested a 75-year-old woman allegedly involved in drug peddling, who is estimated to have been selling ganja worth about Rs 1 lakh a day to more than 200 customers. The team also booked 70 consumers, 65 of whom tested positive for ganja consumption.Acting on a tip-off received at around 8 pm on Thursday that ganja was being sold round-the-clock from a house near Fathenagar Railway Station, a team of EAGLE sleuths, along with CLUES team, raided the premises at about 10:45 pm. According to police, the main peddler, Shaik Jathen Bee, tried to shut the door upon seeing the team. “Five customers were found inside the house, while another 65 were intercepted outside as they approached the premises to buy ganja. Three of those customers are minors,” an official said.Police seized 41 pouches of ganja, weighing about 179 grams. According to police, Jathen Bee confessed that she had been selling ganja since 2017 to cope with financial problems. “She has been charging Rs 500 for a five-gram pouch and named her family members being involved in the business,” police said.In a span of two hours, EAGLE officials keeping a watch outside the house intercepted 65 customers who approached the premises to buy ganja. “There included software engineers, students, gig workers and people from various walks of life. As per our estimates, Jathen Bee has been selling ganja worth about Rs 1 lakh to more than 200 people a day,” an EAGLE Force investigator said.A suo motu case was registered under the NDPS Act against Jathen Bee and 75 others on Friday. Five of her relatives, including her daughter, have also been named as accused and they are absconding, police said. The 65 consumers who tested positive will undergo rehabilitation at de-addiction centres. Jathen Bee was produced before a local court and sent to judicial remand on Friday.“Jathen’s operation is similar to that of another notorious peddler Neetu Bai, who operated from Nanakramguda. We will seek Jathen’s police remand to identify her assets. She was earlier arrested in seven NDPS cases registered at different police and excise stations in the city between 2017 and 2025. We will initiate proceedings to book her under PD Act and attach her assets,” an official said.
