Telugu Desam Party leader K. Pattabhiram.
| Photo Credit: PRASAD RVS
Expressing concern over drug trafficking in Visakhapatnam, senior TDP leader and its national spokesperson K. Pattabhi Ram said that the Police Commissioner’s declaration that the port city has become a transit point for drug trafficking tarnished its reputation.
The recent massive haul of drugs at Visakhapatnam vindicated the TDP’s stand that the city has become a hub during the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) rule, he observed, while demanding a thorough probe into that drug smuggling racket which clearly has foreign links that needed to be exposed in public interest.
Addressing media persons at the TDP office near Mangalagiri on Monday, Mr. Pattabhi Ram said the citing of a bus loaded with crucial documents related to Sandhya Aqua Exports Pvt. Ltd. at Kotha Mulapeta village in Kakinada district and the handing over of the materials found in it by the police to the company management without proper checking, instead of giving their custody to the CBI, showed their callous attitude. He pointed out that there were discrepancies in the certification of Sandhya Aqua’s dry yeast by the Agriculture Ministry of Brazil.
Despite claims by Sandhya Aqua that the certification was obtained on January 17 in Germany, it was quite puzzling as to how such certification could have been issued after the shipment had already left for Hamburg port on January 14. This raises serious questions about the reliability of the certification process and the alleged lack of transparency in the company’s operations.
Mr. Pattabhi Ram demanded answers from Kunam Veerabhadra Rao and other key figures involved in the illegal activity, saying that the YSRCP leaders were deliberately dragging the TDP and BJP leaders into it to derive political mileage ahead of the elections.