KOCHI: Excise Crime Branch which is probing the seizure of 1.2kg of methamphetamine from a gang at a serviced apartment in August 2021 has found that money for procuring drugs was sent to Sri Lanka via Dubai. The investigation team has traced bank transactions to the tune of Rs 68 lakh between September 2020 and August 2021.
Excise Crime Branch recently filed a chargesheet at a Kochi court against 25 people including three women. Sleuths found about modus operandi from the confession of Susmitha Philip, who is known as ‘teacher’ in the drug peddlers circle. “Susmitha confessed that first accused Mohammad Favas asked her to send money to a bank account in Sri Lanka. He sent his ID on the dark web through WhatsApp. The money was first transferred to a friend in Dubai who sent it to a bank account in Sri Lanka. Once the amount reaches Sri Lanka, drugs reach Tamil Nadu native ‘Akka’ who supplies the drugs to Favas,” stated the chargesheet.
Susmitha also admitted that she had sent money to one Amal Thomas and she received the drugs via courier.Binzar Shalu a native of Olavanna in Kozhikode, confessed that Favas’ friend Kalesh was detained in Sri Lanka for smuggling hashish oil. Favas gave money to Binzar which he sent to a friend in Dubai. In turn, the money was transferred to Sri Lanka through Western Union money transfer. He confessed that Favas got drugs from ‘Akka’ in Tamil Nadu.
To identify this mysterious Akka, Excise Crime Branch checked bank accounts of the accused and found that Rs 11.45 lakh was transferred to the account of a Shamsudheen Sett, 56, of Tondiarpet, Chennai, from February 2021 to July 2021. “From the investigation, we found out that ‘Akka’ or ‘Mammi’ is Shamsudheen’s wife Maimoon Shariba. Maimoon assisted Shamsudheen in his business and her mobile phone was used for drug dealings. Favas used to call her to place orders,” an official said.
Investigations also revealed that prime accused Favas was running his drug peddling racket in Kozhikode too. After his friend Naijil was caught with a large quantity of ganja at Nadakavu, Favas shifted his base to Kochi. The procured drugs were sold in small quantities. They charged around Rs 1,700 per gram of meth.