Synthetic drug inflow: Ecstasy for Trivandrum, headache for cops

 The police say synthetic drugs like MDMA are gaining a steady foothold in the city.
Image for representational purpose only
Image for representational purpose only

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The quantity of drug, 250 gm. Can be stored in a small pouch and passed off as maida flour. Once it reaches the destination, this seemingly harmless powder could fetch the dealer Rs 2.5 crore or above. Let loose the mathematician in you and check how much one gram of the narcotic cost. A mind-blowing Rs 1 lakh. For the oldies who are used to conjuring the spirit of cannabis, better known here as ganja that can be brought in a one kilogram packet for Rs 1 lakh, this stuff is beyond their reach. MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, is not the ordinary players’ cup of tea.

Yet, MDMA is now the cause of worry for the city police, especially after the stuff was seized from a Karnataka native here on Friday.

The police say synthetic drugs like MDMA are gaining a steady foothold in the city. Muhammed Jabir from Naganahalli in Hassan district was nabbed from Pettah railway station when he walked into a trap that was set up for him by the cops. The city shadow team had already penetrated his inner circle posing as clients. A few transactions were made to make the dealings appear genuine.

“We had specific info regarding this group. Their communication was via one particular app and we managed to get into his contact list after buying stuff from him. Once the Karnataka native was convinced, he agreed to deliver it directly and thus walked right into us,” said a senior cop in the city police.
City Police commissioner P Prakash said there could me more members associated with the arrested person. There has been strong links to suggest that those involved had international connections.

“They are not local teams. They have international connections. To manufacture synthetic drugs, there has to be good infrastructure. In Kerala, there are no such labs that make synthetic drugs. So the drugs must have been manufactured either in Karnataka or outside the country,” he said,
Meanwhile, anti-narcotics wing of the police revealed synthetic drugs are being pumped in from Karnataka and Goa. “It’s like ganja being smuggled in from Andhra Pradesh. Synthetic drugs reach the city from Karnataka and Goa.,” sources said.

Prakash hinted that the city police would seek the assistance of Karnataka police and Narcotics Control Bureau to unravel more details regarding the case.

However, police said the arrested person has been tight-lipped to questions.
“He is a tough nut to crack suggesting he is a professional drug dealer. We will take him to custody once his judicial remand ends. We are expecting to fill the missing links soon,” he said.

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