KOCHI: The excise crime branch probing the seizure of over 1.2 kg of Methamphetamine (Meth) from a serviced apartment in Kakkanad arrested a Tamil Nadu native who procured synthetic drugs through his links with cartels operating from Sri Lankan jails. The arrested person was identified Shamsudheen Sett, 56, of Tondiarpet, Chennai, who is the 25th accused in the case and the main supplier of Meth seized from the serviced apartment at Vazhakala in August 2021.
“We didn’t have any information about his involvement in the narcotics case before. However, our investigation revealed that he had a connection with drug cartels operating from Sri Lankan jails. His daughter and son-in-law were arrested in Sri Lanka for smuggling drugs in a consignment containing clothes two years back. Though his son-in-law was at a Sri Lankan jail, he had been getting a supply of synthetic drugs in bulk quantity from cartels operating from abroad,” an official said.
A team under Excise Crime Branch Assistant Commissioner T M Kasim tracked Samsudheen down to Sakkimangalam near Madurai and took him into custody with the help of Tamil Nadu police before he was brought to Kochi on Wednesday. Earlier, when sleuths had reached Chennai to arrest him, he managed to escape with his family. He was hiding in Karaikal and Nagore in Tamil Nadu before being arrested by the team.
The crime branch identified Shamsudheen’s involvement from a video clip on a mobile phone and bank transaction details of the gang nabbed the serviced apartment in Vazhakala. “The gang had transferred around Rs 13 lakh to the bank account of Shamsudheen. Similarly, there was also a video on the mobile phone of another accused about procuring drugs from Shamsudheen. In August 2021, the gang procured 2kg of Meth from Shamsudheen. It was also found that the gang had bought various synthetic drugs in bulk from Shamsudheen on several occasions before,” an official said.
It was in August 2021 that the excise and customs teams jointly raided the serviced apartment and busted the six-member gang in Kochi. To prevent checking, the gang took dogs of Rottweiler and Doberman breeds in the car while travelling to other states for procuring drugs. The excise crime branch filed the chargesheet against 25 persons in the case last week.