THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An excise special team has taken over the investigation into the seizure of drugs from a rave party clandestinely held at a resort near Poovar on Sunday. The team is led by Assistant Excise Commissioner Vinod Kumar S and will have officers handpicked from the district to assist him.
The sampling of the drugs seized from the resort was completed by Wednesday. Shortly after taking over the probe, Vinod told TNIE that the three of the arrested suspects will be taken into custody for further interrogation. As many as 14 people, who had attended the DJ party and were later let off on station bail, will also be summoned and their statements will be recorded again.
During the raid, small quantities of ganja, MDMA, hashish oil and LSD stamps were seized from Akshay Mohan, Peter Shan and Hashir. The excise sources said synthetic drugs such as MDMA and LSD could have been brought from Bengaluru or Goa, while ganja and hashish oil could have been procured from Andhra Pradesh.
In the initial phase of the probe, the sleuths have not found any connection between the arrested trio with the drug dealers in Ernakulam. The sketchy details of the infamous drug peddling gang operating in Ernakulam had surfaced during the probe into the suspicious accident-death of two models.
A source revealed that Akshay had prompted a Kashmiri youth, who organised similar DJ parties in Himachal Pradesh, to conduct a similar programme in Poovar. Akshay had earlier worked under the Kashmiri youth in Kullu. However, the Kashmiri youth was not into the drug business and was unaware of the plans of Akshay to sell drugs under the cover of the DJ party and fashion show.
The sleuths have also found that as many as 35 people had attended the DJ party and about 20 people left the place before the officials mounted a raid. Efforts are on to identify those people from the CCTV visuals and the call detail record, which is expected next week.
Drugs sold at double the rate during party
The sleuths, meanwhile, revealed that the drugs were sold at double the price during party. “One gram of MDMA was sold at D6,000, which was double the rate at which it’s being sold in Kochi,” the sleuths said.