KOCHI: The 11kg of ganja and 1.5kg of hashish oil seized recently from a car parked at an apartment complex at Karukutty in Angamaly are a small part of a larger consignment that has already been smuggled into the state, the police probing the seizure said on Monday. They said a racket had been smuggling the drugs into Kerala from Odisha and northern states for the past few months.
The probe into the activities of Muhammed Shahir, 28, and Abdul Jabbar aka Ronaldo Jabbar, 40, both natives of Karumalloor in Paravoor, besides Abeesh, 36, of Kaipamangalam in Thrissur – who were arrested following the seizure – helped police realise that the drug racket’s tentacles are spread across the country. An officer with the probe team said the racket comprises 11 members.
“The racket had been smuggling ganja and hashish oil from Odisha and northern states for the past few months. We checked their bank transactions and found that the accused persons made huge money from the sale of drugs during the period,” said an officer with the team probing the seizure.
“Though the exact quantity of the drugs smuggled so far is unknown, the racket did source 60kg of ganja and 4kg of hashish oil on February 23. The seized contraband was part of this purchase,” said the officer, adding that Abeesh had sold a portion of the consignment to his brother too.