55-year-old man arrested in Kerala week after biggest ganja haul in state

The man, identified as Jayachandran Nair, 55, a native of Mudapuram, Attingal, was to receive the ganja in the capital city from the container truck
Jayachandran Nair
Jayachandran Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hardly a week after an excise special squad seized 500 kilograms of ganja, the biggest such haul in the history of Kerala, from a container truck at Korany near Attingal, the excise department has arrested a man in Thiruvananthapuram.

The man, identified as Jayachandran Nair, 55, a native of Mudapuram, Attingal, was to receive the ganja in the capital city from the container truck. He was taken into custody from his residence on Saturday morning.

The arrest was recorded by the special squad led by G Harikrishna Pillai, Assistant Excise Commissioner, Excise Enforcement and Anti Narcotic Special Squad. He was taken to the Vanchiyoor excise office in the morning and later remanded in judicial custody. Jayachandran has been arraigned as the fourth accused in the case. He had planned to store the 500 kilograms of ganja in a godown owned by him at Mudapuram, an officer said.

With this arrest, a total of three persons were arrested. On the day of the seizure, the driver and cleaner of the truck, who were North Indians, were arrested.

"Jayachandran was arrested following a covert operation by the Excise in Thiruvananthapuram. He is involved in the supply of ganja as well as providing support to the other accused Apesh and Sebu who are absconding. An interrogation is on and we will collect details of the other accused so as to trace them," Pillai said.

According to Excise, Sebu, the key agent in the state, Jithesh of Kannur and Apesh of Thiruvananthapuram went absconding since the seizure and they had reportedly fled to Mysuru.

On Wednesday, the Excise sought the assistance of Mysuru police to trace the culprits. On Tuesday, a team of Mysuru police came to Thiruvananthapuram seeking more details about the seizure. A team from the Excise will also proceed to Mysuru.

Earlier, the Excise had identified the kingpin of the ganja supply chain, Raju Bhai, a native of Punjab, currently residing in Telangana. The accused persons who facilitated the ganja smuggling in a truck are being protected by Raju bhai.

The truck landed in the Excise net after supplying ganja to dealers based in Kannur, Kozhikode and Thrissur. The Andhra Pradesh-registration truck was intercepted by the squad on September 6 on the National Highway at Korany when they were proceeding to Thiruvananthapuram for supplying ganja to Jayachandran and Apesh.

The ganja was packed in 250 packets, each weighing 2kg, and concealed in secret chambers on top of the container truck. The raid was carried out following a tip-off received by the Excise (Thiruvananthapuram range). The truck was coming from Mysuru and entered the state via Kannur for supplying the contraband to various parts of the state. The excise sleuths said the value of the consignment was estimated at around Rs 20 crore.

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