In a major drug bust, the excise department seized 155 kg of ganja and 61 gms of synthetic drug MDMA from a car and a house in Pallithura near here on Sunday. Four people who allegedly smuggled the narcotic substances from Visakhapatnam have been arrested.
The members of the gang were identified as Joshua of Kadinamkulam, Carlos, Anu and Shibu of Valiyaveli. The raid was spearheaded by a team led by Thiruvananthapuram Excise Enforcement and Anti Narcotics Special Squad circle inspector L. Shibu that acted on the basis of a tip-off.
According to Thiruvananthapuram Deputy Excise Commissioner V.A. Salim, the gang was spotted by the investigation team in a car at Nehru junction in Pallithura. While they sped off in a bid to evade getting caught, the excise team soon discovered the car parked outside a house nearby.
After detaining the four accused, the officers chanced upon 62 packets of ganja weighing 133 kg from the car. A subsequent search in the house yielded the seizure of a further 10 packets that contained 22 kg of ganja. A packet of MDMA was also purportedly found from the gang’s possession.
The accused men, all of whom were fishermen, had taken the house on rent allegedly for the purpose. While all of the four accused had allegedly gone to Visakhapatnam by road to procure the contraband, two of them returned by air while the others were entrusted to bring the drugs by road in the car a day ago.
The sleuths also claimed to have received leads that indicated a surge in drug trafficking and other nefarious activities in the coastal areas.
Mr. Salim said the narcotic substances were intended to be sold in various parts of the city. The possibility of an inter-State racket will be probed, he added.
