KOCHI: As Kochi is all set to witness New Year parties and other celebratory events, drugs have started flowing to the district from different parts of the country. Excise officials on Friday arrested a Murshidabad native who brought in high-grade brown sugar known as Orange Line from West Bengal to be supplied to a rave party organiser in Kochi.
The excise team took 29-year-old Laltu Sheik, alias Karim Bhai, into custody from a place near the Aluva metro station where he was waiting for a Panampilly Nagar-based rave party organiser to hand over the contraband. Excise officials found 14 grams of brown sugar from him. He had been working as a daily labourer in Aluva area.
“The arrested person used to supply high-dose drugs to people organising rave parties in the district. Knowing the high demand for drugs like brown sugar during New Year celebrations, he procured them from a gang based in Sealdah near Kolkata. He used to take orders for drugs from the customers and supply them on the fixed date,”
Excise Aluva Range inspector TK Gopi said. According to excise officers, Karim used to charge Rs 3,000 for two milligrams of Orange Line.
“Orange Line-grade brown sugar is popular among people attending rave parties. It comes in the powder form. It is wrapped in paper and smoked. An overdose of the drug will cause the blood pressure to shoot up and can cause a cardiac arrest. The seizure of five grams of Orange Line attracts up to 10 years of imprisonment,” Gopi said.
Excise officers are trying to track down the Panampilly Nagar-based agent. “He has gone into hiding after Karim’s arrest. We will seek Karim’s custody to ferret out information about the persons to whom he had been supplying drugs in Kerala,” an officer said.
Ahead of Christmas and New Year celebrations, Kerala Police and excise department have already started enforcement activities to prevent drug smuggling. More than 100 policemen have been deployed across the city to check the use of drugs in parties being organised at various venues in the district. The excise department has also formed special squads to monitor flow of drugs into the district.