Expected something, but 2 kg of ganja was surprise, say cops on Kalamassery college raid

Kochi: The midnight raid at the men’s hostel of Government Polytechnic College, Kalamassery, surprised the police team, as they were not expecting such a large quantity of ganja in a student’s room. The police seized 1.9 kg of ganja from the room of Akash M (21), who has been arrested and remanded for 14 days. 

The police, in their remand report, stated that Akash had kept the narcotic substance for resale. Two other students, Adithyan (20) and Abhiraj R (21), were also arrested as the police seized 9.7 gm of ganja from their room. They were let off on bail as the quantity of the substance allegedly seized from them is small in legal parlance.

The police officers involved in the raid on Thursday night said that they had not expected what they found in Akash’s room. Apart from the nearly 2 kg of ganja, the police also seized a weighing machine from the room. The police said he was measuring the ganja into small packets when they raided the room. Akash was charged under non-bailable sections as the volume of the ganja seized from him is considered an intermediary. 

In case of ganja, upto one kg is considered as small and anything above 20 kg is counted as commercial. The police suspect that the arrested students sourced the ganja from some former students who were involved in peddling the substance on campus. 

The police conducted the raid based on a tip-off from within the campus. The campus was under the radar of the police for several weeks as there were complaints that drug use was on the rise among the students. The arrest of two former students with small quantities of ganja from the campus a couple of weeks ago helped the police understand the situation on the campus. The raid on Thursday was planned based on the intelligence that students were storing ganja in the hostel to be used during Holi celebrations on Friday.

“I was sure that we would find some small quantity of the substance from the hostel, but 2 kg from one room was beyond our expectations. Three students stayed in the room, and Akash was alone when we searched his room. He was packing the ganja into small sipper bags,” Kochi Narcotics Cell ACP K A Abdul Salam told Onmanorama. Abdul Salam and Thrikkakara ACP P V Baby were among the officers who led the operation. Lower-rank officers who were part of the operation shared the officer’s shock and disbelief. 

There were around 50 police personnel in the team that conducted the raid. They searched almost all rooms in the men’s hostel. The operation was held with the necessary permissions from the college authorities.