In a major haul, the narcotic wing of the police seized ISD stamps, hashish oil, ecstasy tablets and ganja from a night party at a resort at Wagamon on Monday and arrested nine persons, including a woman.
A total of 59 persons, including 12 women, took part in the rave party arranged through social media groups and the narcotic items were brought from Maharashtra and Bengaluru, say initial reports.
They were arrested under the NDPS Act. A decision on more arrests would be taken after completing the interrogation.
CPI leader’s resort
The resort is owned by Communist Party of India (CPI) Wagamon local committee secretary and former Elappara grama panchayat president Shaji Kuttikadan. There were allegations that similar rave parties were held in the resort located at an isolated area in the past too.
All the rooms except one were booked for the night party arranged under the guise of a birthday party and it went on till morning.
The raid was conducted on a tip-off received by District Police Chief R. Karuppusami and led by Assistant Superintendent of Police Sureshkumar and senior police officers from nearby police stations, except Wagamon, on Sunday night.
Those arrested on Monday were identified as Ajmal, 31, of Thodupuzha; Mehar Sherin, 26, of Malappuram ; Nabil, 36, of Edappal; Sulaiman, 38, Ajay, 41, and Shoukath, 36, of Kozhikode; Muhammed Rasheeda, 31, of Kasaragod; Nishad, 36, of Chavakkad; and Basti Viswas, 23; of Tripunithura.
The rave party was arranged as part of the birthday celebration of Nabil, Sulaiman and Soumya from Kollam. The rooms were booked online in advance. Remoteness of the resort allegedly favoured for its selection. Those arrested had confessed that they had arranged similar parties in the past also.
The arrested were those who helped in bringing the contraband items to the resort. Narcotic substances were also recovered from luxury cars parked in front of the resort.
The Wagamon police station was kept in the dark over the raid to plug any chances of leaking out of the information.
Resort to be sealed
District Collector H. Dinesan said that the resort would be sealed and its functioning would be stopped. The report from the concerned authorities was awaited, he added.
Mr. Sureshkumar said that those arrested were in custody and interrogation was going on.
Ousted from party
S. Sivaraman, CPI district secretary, said that Shaji Kuttikadan had been removed from the post of local committee secretary and from the primary membership of the party.
