KASARAGOD: Singed by a police crackdown, the drug gangs of Uppala and Paivalike created terror in Manjeshwar, first, by opening fire in the air, and then by firing at police officers. Karnataka police subdued them at Vitla, and another team lost 140 kg of marijuana to the Kerala police.
"We put our lives at stake in the past 24 hours," said Kasaragod deputy superintendent of police P P Sadanandan, who led the operation against the drug gangs. "It is not over yet. We are still in pursuit of three gangsters led by Raheem of Miyapadav," he said.
It all started five days ago when a special police team raided a house at Vorkady and arrested five suspected members of a drug gang and seized a pistol and a car in Paivalike, said Sadanandan. The pistol was made in England.
The police were taken aback by the cocky response of the gangs to the raids. "They released a video on social media where they displayed five guns -- four pistols and a rifle. It was as if to say, you have seized one pistol but we have more," he said.
In one video, a person sitting in the driver's seat of a parked car pulls out a pistol from the mobile storage, cocks it, and taps the gun on the stereo which is playing hip-hop music. The camera pans out from the pistol and focuses on the road signage which says Morthana, straight, Manjeshwar and Uppala, left.
In another clip, two persons were firing two pistols. It was posted as a 'story' on Instagram on March 23 by one Ashkar, who identified himself as a blogger.
It was as if the gangs were challenging the police, said the DySP. The police replied in kind. The next day, around 5 am on March 24, the DySP formed 14 teams headed by 14 officers from the Kasaragod division and simultaneously searched 60 houses in Manjeshwar, Kumbla, and Kasaragod police limits.
The houses belonged to history-sheeters who had long-pending warrants against them, he said. "We did not get any big gangsters but managed to arrest five persons linked to these gangs. Now, we had 10 persons in custody," he said.
The arrested persons were identified as Ashkar of Morthana, who uploaded the video, 'Tyre' Faisal of Seethamgoli, Badaruddeen of Bela, Aboobacker of Arikkady, and Shihab.
On March 25, Thursday, around 2 pm, two hatchbacks with three persons each drove into Uppala town. One person opened fire into the air and the two cars zipped off, said police.
Officers believed the open firing was in response to the raid and arrest the previous day. Manjeshwar police led by the inspector and sub-inspector reached the spot and ordered the closure of all escape routes. More police teams were called in and a combing operation was launched for the suspected gangsters.
Around 3 pm, Kasaragod police spotted one of the cars at Miyapadav. But on seeing the police, the car sped away. "We chased it for half an hour but could not catch it. They were driving at 120 to 130 km per hour as if they were on drugs," said the DySP.
The police set up bandobasts at important junctions to prevent their escape. "Around 4.30 pm, we spotted the car abandoned at Koolavayal near Miyapadav.
The police found an empty case of a round. "We suspect case belonged to the round fired at Uppala," said the DySP.
As the car was locked, the police arranged a vehicle to tow it to Manjeshwar police. Around 8.30 pm, when the police began towing the car, the gangsters appeared again in two cars and opened fire at the police, said the officer. "One round hit a police jeep," he said.
When the police returned fire, they fled from the scene.
This forced the police to block all roads. "We used Google Maps to find all exit routes and blocked them," he said.
Kerala police also alerted the police in Puttur, Sulliya, and Vitla in Karnataka.
Around 4 am, one of the cars approached the barricade set up at Kodange on the Kerala-Karnataka border by Vittal police.
Dakshina Kannada police said those inside the car opened fire at the officers manning the post. The car came to a stop when it rammed into the barricade, it said.
Vittal police arrested the three persons inside the car. They identified the persons as Mohammed Wakeer, Abdul Latheef, and Ashfaq. They also recovered one pistol, 13 live rounds, one dagger. They also impounded the car.
The Dakshina Kannada police said the three persons identified themselves as members of a gang operating in Paivalike, Miyapadav, and Kasaragod.
Meanwhile, Kasaragod police kept combing the area and around 2.30 pm found a car abandoned on the fringes of a forest at Kundadka in Meenja panchayat.
The Kasaragod DySP said they found 140kg of marijuana and 55g of MDMA, a psychoactive drug.
He said they were on the lookout for the three persons in the car. The police said they were going ahead with the operation to identify and nab the leaders of the gangs.