MDMA smuggler who jumped into valley hid in bushes all night, held in Wayanad
The accused was hiding in a marshy area, behind a plant nursery at Lakkidi.
The accused was hiding in a marshy area, behind a plant nursery at Lakkidi.
The accused was hiding in a marshy area, behind a plant nursery at Lakkidi.
Kalpetta: Vythiri police, on Saturday, arrested Shafeeq, 28, a native of Tirurangadi, Malappuram, who had fled cops while smuggling the lethal narcotic substance MDMA. He leapt down the valley from the Wayanad Ghats viewpoint at Lakkidy on Friday.
He sustained injuries to one of his legs and was unable to walk, according to police. Shafeeq has been shifted to the Taluk Hospital, Vythiri.
The youth was hiding in a marshy area, behind a plant nursery at Lakkidi, near the viewpoint from where the police picked him. It was the residents who alerted the police about a man hiding in the bushes.
Vythiri police inspector Anilkumar C R said that Shafeeq was in an emaciated condition and had been hospitalised. "It seems he was hiding in the thicket for the entire night, braving the rain and cold without food. We would be able to elicit information regarding his escape and hiding, only after his condition has stabilised," he said.
Meanwhile, police confirmed that the MDMA seized from the youth is more than 20 gms, which is a commercial quantity, and may fetch him imprisonment of up to 20 years. Shafeeq ran off and jumped into the steep valley when the police searched his car at the Wayanad gate checkpoint. Although an additional police team and Fire and Rescue personnel from Kalpetta conducted a thorough search of the locations and also utilised a drone, the attempts proved futile.