War on drugs
The two men — Raja Mandal, 30, and Rahul , 24, — were arrested by the Ernakulam excise range team at Kakkanad around 11.30pm on Tuesday. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Kochi | Silver Rate in Kochi | Bank Holidays in Kochi | Public Holidays in Kochi Stay updated with the latest Kochi news.
Kochi : Excise officials investigating the seizure of ganja smuggled in paint buckets have identified the suspected kingpin behind the racket, officials said. Officials said one of them had never been to Kerala before, while the other had a few local contacts. He is also a migrant, but the customers who bought the drug in bulk from him included Keralites,” an official said. Officials said the arrested carriers knew little about Sagar apart from his name and phone number. The area was placed under surveillance and the arrests were made near the room,” the official said.
“Sagar used to work here for some time before turning to ganja peddling. “We received information about the room he was using as an exchange point. Download the TOI App.
The carriers allegedly travelled by train with the buckets and were promised Rs 25,000 each for every trip.
The contraband was compressed, packed inside paint buckets and sealed with stickers to conceal it, they said. Officials suspect that Sagar had used the same method in the past to transport ganja. The department is now attempting to trace Sagar and identify the buyers.
The case pertains to the arrest of two West Bengal-based carriers with 16.36kg of cannabis at Kakkanad.
The excise department said the men were allegedly transporting the contraband for a man identified as Sagar . Sagar would not stay at the room, according to officials. Investigators have traced Sagar’s phone number and found that he used to rent a room in Kochi for smuggling ganja. The carriers were allegedly instructed to book an online taxi to the rented accommodation after arriving at different railway stations. Instead, he allegedly arranged for buyers to collect the cannabis from there. The carriers would rest at the accommodation and leave on another train arranged by Sagar.