KOCHI: In a major haul, Excise sleuths on Wednesday seized 6.5 kg of charas worth Rs 10 crore in the global market and arrested an international drug carrier who has been smuggling the contraband to Kochi from Nepal. Excise officers arrested Varghese Judson, son of Antony, Aluvaparambu, Puthuvype, from the Container Road in Kochi on Wednesday.
An SUV, a pistol and eight pellets were also recovered. The Excise Department said the accused has been committing the crime single-handedly. Receiving a tip-off from the Top Narcotics Secret Group, a shadow Excise team, the sleuths took about 50 youths into custody in Kochi and subjected them to a detailed interrogation. Following this, they received vital clues about Judson. He was under the surveillance of the team for the past several weeks. Though the sleuths traced him he managed to hoodwink them.
‘Biggest seizure of charas in Kerala’
“This is the biggest seizure of charas in Kerala. Though the Excise team had confiscated hashish oil in Kochi before, it’s for the first time such huge quantity of charas has been recovered,” said Excise Deputy Commissioner K Chandrapalan. He added that Excise Department had alerted the Union Home Ministry on the inflow of drugs to the country from Nepal border.
How was the arrest made?
The Excise team took into custody all the customers of Judson and one of the team members in the guise of a customer. The team trapped him on the Container Road when he took the contraband out of his secret location as the ‘customers’ had offered a ‘good price’.
However, spotting the Excise officers, the accused drove his SUV without stopping. When the sleuths chased and intercepted his vehicle, he pointed the pistol towards them. The officers resisted his move while he attempted to flee by diverting their attention. However, he was caught by the officers.