THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Bureaucratic procrastination seems to be plaguing the state at a time it’s battling the drug mafia that’s trying to pull the youths into the substance abuse snare.
The excise department’s request for sanctioning a trifling amount of Rs 28,000 to translate the documents related to a drug case to Arabic so as to get the main accused, a key member of a drug cartel, extradited from the UAE has been kept in cold storage for the past 18 months by the taxes department.
The excise department forwarded the request for funds to the tax department as it comes under the latter’s purview. The funds were sought after the excise sleuths -- after following due process -- managed to get the Interpol to issue a red corner notice against Shaun Sunil Bert, who hails from Valiya Veli, in connection with seizure of 155kg of cannabis and 60g of MDMA from a house in Thumba in July 2023.
Shaun had allegedly left the state after four of his accomplices were arrested and drugs stored in a rented house were recovered by excise sleuths.
Highly-placed sources said Shaun, 22, left for the UAE and from there was planning to move to the UK to escape legal action. However, his bid was foiled after the excise managed to get the Interpol to issue notices.
Sources said the sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram had issued an open-dated non-bailable arrest warrant against Shaun as it could have expedited the procedures involved in getting him arrested and brought home to face the law.
The sources said the documents, spanning about 250 pages, need to be translated to Arabic, as is the established procedure with the UAE courts. Only after the local court orders arrest can an accused be brought to India.
“As per the rules, bonafide translators need to be employed for the work. The excise officials got in touch with some Arabic language experts and convinced them to do the job at a minimum price after informing them of the seriousness of the matter. However, their request for funds went unheeded,” said a source. The sources said this was the first case of its kind where a red corner notice was issued by the Interpol against an offender on the basis of a case registered by the excise department.