Hyderabad police bust interstate e-cigarette supply network and arrest manager

Hyderabad police arrested a 28-year-old man for selling banned e-cigarettes and foreign cigarettes from a shop in Raidurgam, uncovering an interstate network that used online orders and home deliveries. The arrested man is Aboobacker Siddique, a native of Kerala who worked as the manager of the shop named Smokin Spot and lived in a hostel in Madhapur. Police seized 46 e-cigarettes, 49 packets of foreign cigarettes, two mobile phones and two digital payment scanners from the store. Investigators are currently tracing the shop owner Mohammed Shareef and a suspected supplier named Arshad, both from Kerala.

Network Operations

Shareef hired Siddique in March 2026 on a monthly salary of 25,000 rupees. Another worker from Karnataka named Nihad Ahmed trained Siddique before leaving the job after a month, while Arshad supplied the e-cigarettes and is currently missing. The shop used WhatsApp messages to inform customers about different vape brands, using a dedicated mobile number for orders and business talks. Customers paid through cash, digital scanners at the store, or UPI payments, and the shop arranged deliveries using Rapido.

Sales and Broader Crackdown

The shop sold around 107 e-cigarettes in October and November at prices between 2,800 and 4,000 rupees depending on how many puffs they offered. Police are checking the seized phones and financial records to find customers and other suppliers. Investigators are also looking at whether other delivery platforms like Porter and Uber were used, though delivery workers are not yet proven to know about the illegal trade. Across the state, a special enforcement drive has led to 11 cases, 18 arrests, 21 missing suspects, and the seizure of about 1,619 boxes of e-cigarettes.

Context

E-cigarettes and vapes are banned in India under laws aimed at protecting public health, especially among young people. Police drives against such illegal sales typically target the entire supply chain from local store managers up to interstate suppliers and financial backers.