Sulthan Bathery: The Excise Circle Special Team here, in a joint operation with the Wayanad District Excise Intelligence Wing, arrested a youth with 82.104 grams of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) on Friday.

The accused, Muhsin Musthafa (25), of Baothul Fatima House, Mattul Central in Kannur, landed in the excise net while travelling from Hyderabad to Kozhikode in a private bus. He was nabbed during a vehicle inspection at Ponkuzhi, a village on the Karnataka–Kerala border. Sulthan Bathery Excise Circle Inspector MK Sunil led the 11-member team deployed for the operation.

According to officials, Muhsin is the kingpin of a narcotics smuggling racket that supplies drugs across the Malabar region. The seized MDMA is estimated to be worth around ₹10 lakh in the market.

The inspection followed a tip-off that one of the key racketeers was travelling from Hyderabad to Kerala with a large consignment of MDMA. Excise officials said they had also been alerted to the activities of a statewide narcotics network targeting college students and youngsters.

Recently, the Meenangadi Excise team arrested a Kozhikode native with hawala money worth ₹1.5 crore from a bus.

Deputy Excise Commissioner Shaji said the department's round-the-clock vigil would continue in the coming days, as interstate routes have become key transit corridors for narcotics smuggling.