THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Excise Department on Friday arrested two people, one of them a Bihar native, who attempted to sell schedule H drugs to customers near Kulathoor. Arun Kumar alias Kedi Arun, 24, of Manacaud, and Ravi Ram, 29, a native of Bihar, now residing at Manacaud, were arrested by a team of officers led by Kazhakuttom Excise Circle Inspector Pratheep Rao.
Rao told Express the duo were arrested while trying to sell nitrosun tablets to certain employees of Technopark. About 90 such tablets were seized. According to Excise officers, Ram was accused of murdering a bank employee in Kerala. However, he was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Since then, he has been staying in Kerala and got married to a woman from Kuzhithurai across Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
Ram used to purchase Schedule H drugs that require a doctor’s prescription from medical shops in Kuzhithura. A 100-tablet strip that costs Rs 300 was sold to clients in Thiruvananthapuram for Rs 5,000.
Sources said the main clients of the nitrosun tablets were techies. “Some techies use the tablets which have a sedative property regularly for sound sleep. They rely on these drugs to get undisturbed sleep during day time and stay alert during night duty,” said an officer.