KOCHI: In a major drug bust, around 90gms of synthetic drug MDMA, which is said to be worth Rs 1 crore, was seized by the excise sleuths in a raid held in Ernakulam in the early hours of Wednesday.
Five people, including a woman, were arrested by excise anti narcotic special squad in a joint operation with state excise enforcement squad and Customs Preventive Unit, Kochi.
The arrest of two more people, including a woman, is yet to be recorded.
The seizure was made from a rented apartment in Vazhakala on Thursday.
The arrested were identified as Sreemon, Mohammad Fabas and Shamna of Kozhikode, Aju alias Amal of Kasaragod and Mohammad Afsal of Ernakulam.
Though a Kasaragod native man and an Ernakulam native woman were also taken into custody, their arrests are yet to be recorded as the excise said they are yet to confirm their involvement in the case.
According to the excise officers, the modus operandi adopted by the gang was to travel as family with ladies along with furious dog breeds like Rottweiler and Doberman to evade inspection by law enforcement agencies at checkpoints.
Three dogs were also detained during the search operation and the car they used to travel was confiscated.
The raid was held based on the inputs received by the excise and customs departments that a huge quantity of high quality synthetic drugs was being brought from Chennai for sale in Kerala.
Following this, a joint search operation was initiated by the customs and State Excise Special Enforcement Squad in various locations in Kochi on Wednesday.
“The gang is suspected to have been involved in the distribution of MDMA in not only Kochi but also in Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad and Kasargod districts of Kerala. They travelled in groups pretending to be a family and often took the dog with them as protection. They are suspected to have rented out other apartments in the city but we are yet to confirm. The raid was held based on a plan after collecting all details about the accused and their location,” said Ashok Kumar, deputy excise commissioner, Ernakulam.
A case has been registered under relevant sections of NDPS Act and a probe has been launched by a team led by N Sankar, anti-narcotic special squad, Ernakulam.
The accused people, seized contraband, three dogs and the car are in the excise custody.
The accused people will be presented before the court after legal and medical procedures.
The team that raided the flat includes excise circle inspector T Anil Kumar, who is in charge of state excise enforcement squad, Aluva excise circle inspector G Krishnakumar, customs preventive commissionerate Cochin superintendent Vivek V, customs preventive inspectors, Reymis Rahim, Shinumon Augustine and Lijin Kamal, civil excise officers Basant Kumar, Arun Kumar, Anoop and driver Sravan.
