Kochi: Two murder accused were among eight persons arrested in the middle of a drug deal that was busted by a joint operation of the Customs Preventive and the state Excise special enforcement here on Tuesday.
According to a Customs source, the officials were able to intercept before the accused who had knives hidden under the bed, could attack inside a hotel room at Mamangalam here.
The officials seized 56gm MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy and Molly, worth at least Rs 56 lakh in the international market. A Kollam-native woman was also part of the gang. Three luxury cars were also confiscated from the gang.
Those arrested were Rechu Rahman (Aluva), Muhammad Ali (Malappuram), Bibeesh (Thrissur), Salman (Kannur), Shibu, Jubair, Thanseela (Kollam) and Sharath (Alappuzha). Four of them were buyers while the others had come to purchase when the raid happened.
The Customs preventive team was led by PG Lalu while the excise unit was led by Circle Inspectors Ani Kumar and Krishna Kumar.
“Youth have transformed from using ganja and hashish oil to chemical drugs. Now we are seeing more MDMA seizures in Kochi. It is a dangerous drug that could lead to memory loss, degradation of bones and even death,” said a Customs officer.
The same team of officers had busted two other major drug rackets in the city within a year, the most famous of which was the seizure of 1.5kg of drugs worth at least Rs 12 crore from Kakkanad. Seven persons were arrested then and two ferocious dogs used by the peddlers, were also impounded.
In April 2021 the same team of officers had raided four hotels in Kochi and arrested four persons from whom four grams of MDMA was seized. A DJ was among those held on that occasion.
