The Panangad Police on Saturday morning arrested a man accused of obstructing traffic and abusing passengers travelling through the region at night. The accused has been identified as Sanoob (36), son of Abdul Azees, from Nettoor near here.

Sanoob was arrested from Dhanya Junction in Panangad on Saturday at around 6 am. Earlier, videos of the accused threatening and abusing passengers surfaced on social media, warning users to be careful while travelling through the area.

In the videos circulated online, Sanoob can be seen stopping and intimidating car passengers at night. The police said that Sanoob would jump in front of moving vehicles and try to threaten passengers. He would also lie on the road, blocking passage, they added.

The police told Onmanorama that they had initiated an investigation immediately after the videos surfaced online. Although the police tried to track him down based on information received from residents, the accused had managed to flee the spot before they arrived.

“He appears to be showing symptoms of drug addiction and is displaying aggressive behaviour because of it,” the police told Onmanorama. “He even threatened the police when we took him into custody,” they added.

The police have registered a case under Section 170 (preventive arrests without a warrant) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. “Since we have not received a formal complaint, we have made a preventive arrest,” the police said.