KOCHI: In a major drug haul, the excise team on Sunday seized 3kg of MDMA valued at Rs 2 crore at the Aluva railway station. Two people, Sainulabdeen, 27, and Rahul Subash, 28, of Kodungalloor have been arrested in connection with the haul.
The contraband hidden in panipuri packets and juice boxes were smuggled from Delhi on the Mangala Express. According to excise officials, the arrested duo has confessed to bringing the drugs for the New Year celebrations. Rahul Subhash is a former sportsperson who had attended the national games in hammer throw in 2010-11, said officials.
The department had received intelligence inputs regarding the duo’s involvement in drug trafficking for the past few months and had therefore put them under surveillance. Based on a tipoff that the two had boarded a train from Delhi with the contraband, a team of excise officials in plain clothes boarded the train from another station and kept a watch on them.
When the train reached Aluva, the two picked up a packet kept on a berth away from their seat. As they alighted, teams of Railway Protection Force and excise took them into custody from the platform and inspected their luggage.