KOCHI: In a major drug bust by the excise officers in Ernakulam division, 15kg of ganja, 1.6kg of hashish oil and 1g of MDMA were seized from a rented house at Arakkapady near Perumbavoor on Sunday night. Four college students were arrested in connection with the case.
The arrested persons were identified as Rizwan, 21, of Thaliparamba, Shon, 23, of Kumbalangi, Denin, 24, of Konni and Jijo Koshi, 21, of Karunagappally. While Rizwan, Shon and Denin were arrested from the rented house during the raid, Koshi, who fled the scene, was later arrested from a flat in Ernakulam. Along with Jijo, another person named Ananthu, 35, too was arrested from the flat after the excise seized hashish from the apartment.
According to the officers, the seized drugs were worth around Rs 1.5 crore. The four youths are reportedly students of an engineering college at Arakkapady and they were using the rented house for all narcotic activities.
The raid was conducted by a team comprising excise commissioner squad CI R Rajesh, Kunnathunad excise CI B Sumesh, inspectors Adarsh S B, Vaisakh V Pillai, Mamala range inspector V Anilkumar, etc.
A case has been registered under NDPS Act. Rizwan, Shon and Denin have been remanded in judicial custody and were sent to Muvattupuzha sub jail. Jijo has been handed over to Mamala range office and he will be remanded into judicial custody on Tuesday.
All the accused persons will be bought in excise custody for further probe.
