Kochi: A day after excise personnel seized psychoactive substances worth Rs 200 crore in the international market, the main accused in the case has been arrested, a top cop revealed on Sunday.
Chennai resident Prasanth Kumar, a native of Kannur in north Kerala, was booked for allegedly smuggling 30 kg of the stimulant Ecstasy, generally called MDMA, out of the country through a courier firm in this city, Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh said. Another person, Ali, is yet to be arrested in the case, he added.
The accomplices in the crime had sent the commodity, which is popularly known as party pill, from the Tamil Nadu capital to Kochi. It was packed in eight cartons that looked like containing sarees and brought to a basement store on the arterial MG Road here through a vehicle run by Praeen Travels. The plan was to ship it to Malaysia through a courier firm called Worldwide.
The senders did not specify the address and also delayed payment, triggering suspicion in the courier company. The also wondered why a consignment to Malaysia, which is northeast of Chennai, should first travel in the opposite direction and reach Kochi.
The accused, on questioning, conceded the team has earlier sent similar couriers abroad thrice. All the time, they had said they contained sarees.
Prasanth Kumar was assisted by one Subair and Ali — both residents of Kochi. As their latest consignment to Malaysia was confiscated, the three went underground. Inquiries by Central Excise, Customs, Enforcement Directorate, Narcotic Control Bureau and Special Branch zeroed in on Prasanth’s role. He was nabbed from Chennai, and was being brought to Kochi for interrogation. A probe is on to locate the probable Kerala handlers of the criminals.
The Excise team that apprehended Prasanth and his team will be gifted with Rs 1 lakh, commissioner Singh said.
Kerala has been witnessing a steady increase in the consumption of drugs since the imposition of prohibition in 2013-14, he pointed out. In the first year, the rise in the use of psychotropic substances went up by 200 to 300 times. Given that the young suffer the worst, the administration is holding awareness campaign against the use of drugs. “It requires even stronger public support,” Singh said.
The drug seizure in Kochi led the authorities to conduct a series of raids elsewhere in Kerala on Friday. Following it, 850 gram MDMA was confiscated from Pathanamthitta besides its 6,000 ampules from Alappuzha. Excise inspectors also said they found 27 medical shops to be carrying out dubious sale of stuff. Also, cases were registered against four hotels that advertised offer of liquor.
MDMA is worth Rs 65,000 a gram in the local market.
