Kochi: In a breakthrough in the drive against drug mafia with overseas links, the Crime Branch has arrested a key carrier of a cartel. The arrested person, P T Antony who is a native of Alappuzha, is close to a Middle East-based Keralite drug trafficker known in the narcotic circles as "Dubai Bhai', said police.
The arrest of Antony and another Keralite Jomon has yielded crucial leads into the nexus of Kerala-based gangs with Gulf-based drug racket.
The involvement of Antony and Bhai in drug smuggling came to light following the arrest of Jomon, a native of Ernakulam, in Kuwait for possession of narcotics.
“The person has based his drug trafficking operations currently in Kuwait,” the sources said on Dubai Bhai.
The officers have also stumbled upon evidence of Dubai Bhai making frequent phone calls and his financial transactions with people across the Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.
Antony had initially worked as a drug carrier for Bhai, said investigators.
Modus operandi
Bhai used to lay his trap for youths by offering them Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000 to travel to Dubai from Kochi and back as part of a trial to smuggle diamonds — a much more profitable business than the trafficking of gold. He, however, cheated all these trial carriers by concealing narcotics inside a secret portion of the empty bags entrusted to them.
Jakson and Roshan, both natives of Alappuzha who acted as agents of Dubai Bhai, had lured Antony into drug trafficking. However, none of them had ever seen Bhai in person.
Antony emerged as the trusted lieutenant of Bhai when the former successfully deployed three carriers for smuggling out drugs to the Gulf through the Cochin International Airport.
Antony, in his statement to police, has confessed to duping as many as 10 youths to carry narcotics from the airport under instructions from Bhai.
The Crime Branch, however, has received a statement that Jackson and Roshan together had used an even more number of youths as drug carriers on behalf of Bhai.
