KOCHI: Two youth who drove all the way from Bengaluru in a Delhi registration car were arrested by city police on Friday for allegedly possessing over 1.85 gm of MDMA. Police said the accused were suspected to be part of an inter-state drug peddling racket and were picked up from Fort Kochi during a routine vehicle check. Police said the arrested youth were identified as Muhammed Nizam, 26, and Sarfil Kareem, 26, of Kuttichira house, Panipra, Kothamangalam. Police said as per their statement, they had reached Fort Kochi driving all the way from Bengaluru.
Police said the accused had sourced the contraband from a supplier in Bengaluru and had brought it to Fort Kochi to handover it to a buyer operating out of a home stay. “We have launched a probe to ascertain the details of the buyer. The two have claimed that they were into used car sales and the Delhi registration car was bought as part of their car sales business,” an officer said adding that the two were relatives and had earlier worked in Middle East countries before starting their used car sales business. The accused were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
The officer said possession of MDMA over and above 0.5 gram attracts severe punishment under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The accused went to Bengaluru to source the contraband specifically based on information that a supplier was operating in Bengaluru who provides MDMA at a lowest rate.
A senior Excise officer said that, in the recent period a few drug trafficking cases have been registered in Ernakulam in which the accused had sourced psychotropic drugs like MDMA and LSD from suppliers in Bengaluru.