​Sulthan Bathery: With the police confirming that it was a policeman himself who stole seven sacks of seized tobacco products from the Sulthan Bathery police station, efforts are on to nab the accused, who is using his cop skills to evade the law.

The absconding cop has been identified as Sabith, a Senior Civil Police Officer attached to the same police station.

The tobacco products, seized during a raid as part of the state-wide anti-narcotics drive Operation Toofan, were found missing from the police station on September 10 during a cleaning drive in the safe room. The seized substance was deposited in the station property room on June 26.

According to officials, Sabith allegedly smuggled out the tobacco sacks during the early hours of July 19, when he was on station duty and had General Diary (GD) charge, which involves overseeing the station’s day-to-day administrative activities and maintaining the General Diary.

The police suspect that Sabith himself carried the sacks out of the station and loaded them into his car. Investigators have collected CCTV footage from the police station, which they say contains visuals relevant to the incident.

Sabith, a native of Muttil in Wayanad, had been on leave since August 22. He has allegedly gone absconding since September 10, when reports of the tobacco theft first surfaced in the media.

Sulthan Bathery DySP Abdul Karim has recommended to the District Police Chief to initiate a departmental inquiry against Sabith in connection with the incident. Karim told Onmanorama that, being a police officer, Sabith was aware of the procedures followed during an investigation and was therefore allegedly shifting from one hideout to another to evade arrest. His mobile phone was also switched off for the past several days.

“Being a policeman, he is aware of the way the investigation progresses and is shifting hideouts one after another,” the DySP said, adding that the investigation team was on his trail and would arrest him soon.