THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The role of Thiruvananthapuram city as a transit point for hashish oil smuggling was once again exposed on Friday after Excise officers arrested five persons and seized 13 kg of hashish oil worth Rs 13 crore in the international market. A sum of Rs 8 lakh, meant to be advance payment for the oil, was also seized.
With this, the Excise Department busted a ring involved in the illegal trading of hashish oil, a highly-priced derivative of ganja.
The arrested persons are Anil Kumar, 40, and Babu, 50, of Parathodu in Idukki; Ulanji Ram Babu, 29, of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh; Shafeeq, 30, of Vallakkadavu in Thiruvananthapuram and Shajan, 27, of Thamalam in Thiruvananthapuram. During interrogation, they revealed they had successfully smuggled the contraband into the city thrice earlier.
This time, the group, which was travelling in an Innova car with the contraband, was apprehended near the Akkulam Kendriya Vidyalaya by the Excise squad led by officers from Thiruvananthapuram and Kazhakoottam range. The hashish oil was being taken in 13 packets, each weighing 1 kg, and was concealed inside the side door.
“We received prior information about a gang trying to smuggle the contraband and a plan was prepared to nab them,” said Excise officers.
Sourced from Andhra pradesh
Excise sources said the contraband was sourced from Andhra Pradesh with the help of Ulanji Babu. The Idukki native Babu was the middleman and had introduced Anil to Ulanji Babu. Anil bought the hashish oil from Andhra Pradesh for D20,000 per kg and was to sell it to another dealer in Thiruvananthapuram for D80,000 per kg. The dealer, believed to be absconding, ran the illegal business under the cover of a juice shop in the city. The arrested Shafeeq and Shajan were his accomplices who were sent with a car to Dindigul in Tamil Nadu to bring the contraband to the city after the jeep the others were in broke down.
Different route
Since security inspections at border checkpoints have been intensified ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the gang tried to sneak in the contraband via the Aryankavu check post, avoiding prominent routes such as Walayar or Amaravila. Excise sources said the jeep the group was in broke down near Dindigul and they had asked the dealer to send them a vehicle with advance payment.
The Maldives connection
Express has reliably learnt the dealer in Thiruvananthapuram was in touch with Maldives natives connected with the international drug mafia. He charged D8,00,000 for 1 kg of hashish oil from the Maldives natives, sources said. In the past one year, Excise and Police Departments have seized nearly 60 kg of hashish oil from the city. The consignments were intended for the international market and were seized before they were shipped or airlifted off the country.