KOCHI: The four gangsters who were arrested with 68 grams of MDMA from Angamaly on Saturday have links with international drug dealers, top sources said. The Ernakulam Rural police led by SP K Karthik have unearthed information that the racket had procured the drug from Nigerian citizens who top the list of foreigners held in drug trade in the state.
Safar Moidheen, 24, a native of Perumbavoor; Hashim, 23, of Aluva; P Jaleel, 24, of Vengola; and Asif, 22, of Uliyannoor were intercepted at Kariyadu Junction near Angamaly while they were smuggling the contraband by concealing it under the steering wheel of a car.
Though the police’s initial assumption was that the gang procured the synthetic drug from a Bengaluru-based gang, further probe exposed their links with foreign drug dealers, police sources said.
With this, the police have confirmed that Nigerian dealers have spread their tentacles in the state with the help of local youngsters.
“When we interrogated them, it was found that they had links with international drug dealers. Some Nigerian citizens had supplied the drug and collected the money with the help of residents of Bengaluru,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.
The police also detected the bank transactions they had carried out with the Nigerian people. “The gang received the drug for just Rs 1,000 per gram. But they used to sell the substance at prices several times higher. They spent nearly Rs 1.2 lakh to smuggle 168 grams of MDMA. While transactions of Rs 1 lakh were made through banks, the balance was done through cash payments,” said the officer.
The police also confirmed that the gang had smuggled the synthetic drugs multiple times. “The four arrested persons were involved in other drug cases as well. They have a strong network to distribute the drugs to customers. We need to investigate whether they used to procure the drugs from the same Nigerian gang or from any other foreign nationals also,” said the source.
The police have started tracing the call record details and other bank transactions of the youngsters to find out their involvement in more cases and their supply chain.