Wayanad Police have recovered 17.18 grams of MDMA hidden inside the front visor of a scooter, marking what they described as the first seizure of its kind in the district and highlighting the increasingly sophisticated methods adopted by drug traffickers to evade detection.

The drugs were concealed inside the plastic visor above the scooter's headlight. Police had to dismantle and break open the visor using mechanical tools before they could recover the contraband.

The seizure was made by a joint team of the District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force, Sulthan Bathery Police and the Special Action Group Against Organised Crimes (SAGOC).

According to police, drug smugglers have traditionally hidden narcotics by tying packets around their waist or limbs, sticking them with adhesive tape or concealing them in easily accessible parts of vehicles. However, this is the first time they have detected drugs hidden inside a scooter visor after a cavity was created and the panel was refitted in a manner that made the modification almost impossible to detect.

Police said the packet had been inserted into the gap inside the visor and the panel had been reassembled so neatly that it appeared factory-fitted. Recovering the drugs required the visor to be dismantled with mechanical tools.

The arrested person has been identified as K Fahad, 25, of Thayyil House, Ramanattukara, Kozhikode.

According to police, unlike many drug couriers who avoid checkpoints by using interior roads, Fahad travelled along the busy Kozhikode-Bengaluru National Highway (NH 766) through Muthanga in broad daylight, apparently believing the concealment method would prevent the drugs from being detected.

The scooter reached the Muthanga border checkpost around noon on Monday. Police first conducted a body search of the rider but found nothing suspicious. However, officers noticed that he became visibly nervous when they began inspecting the scooter, prompting a more detailed examination.

After dismantling the front visor, police recovered a cloth sachet containing 17.18 grams of MDMA and a butane gas refill tube commonly used for smoking-related purposes.

Investigators believe the seizure shows that organised drug rackets are constantly changing their smuggling methods to outsmart law enforcement agencies. Police officials said such concealment techniques may require the deployment of trained mechanics at major border checkposts to assist in future anti-drug operations.

The accused was produced before the Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court, Sulthan Bathery, on Tuesday and remanded to judicial custody.

The police team comprised Sulthan Bathery Station House Officer Sreekanth S Nair, Sub-Inspector Amal Prasad, Assistant Sub-Inspector Syam Lal, Senior Civil Police Officer Santhosh, and Civil Police Officers Althaf and Seema.