Bengaluru: Arrested Iranian turned a rented villa into a ganja nursery

Team Udayavani, Sep 29, 2021, 1:39 PM IST

Image Source: TOI

Bengaluru: An Iran national who was among four people arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) personnel on charges of drug peddling had allegedly rented a villa for Rs 36,000 a month and turned it into a ganja nursery.

Based on credible information, the CCB police had arrested the four persons from RT Nagar on Sunday while they were waiting for a customer in their car with the drugs. Police seized 130 hydro ganja plants, 12.8 kg of dry hydro ganja and LSD strips valuing around Rs 1 crore from their possession.

Among the arrested Javad Rostampour Ghotb Aldin, 34 from Tehran had come to Bengaluru in 2010 to pursue his MBA and resided in a rented premise in Kammanahalli.

During the questioning, Javad told that he consumed the narcotic after he developed mental illness. It was while researching for a cure for mental health problems Javed found that cannabidiol or CBD, a component in ganja, could relax his brain and decided to grow it.

He was scared to go back to his country as he feared his drug addiction could attract death penalty in Iran and thus overstayed in the city.

Meanwhile, he bought the book ‘Marijuana Bible’ from an e-commerce portal and studied details on growing hydroponic ganja, the atmosphere it needed where the seeds were available, how to procure them and protect them from a pest/insect attack.

Initially, he began growing the ganja in the fish tank on a trial basis. As the experiment turned to be a success, Javed began growing more plants and sold it to students, IT professionals, party-goers and businessmen among others. He came in touch with the other accused — Mohammadi Barogh, Mohammed Mohsin Uz Zaman alias Mohsin and Mohsin Khan during this time and carried the drug trade.

As the entire police machinery was cracking down on drug peddlers following the sandalwood drugs case, Javad rented the villa for 36,000 a month and set up a ganja nursery.

Police said that Mohammadi procured LSD strips through the dark web and sold them to customers in the city with the help of the other suspects.