KOCHI: A police officer sustained injuries after a group of drug peddlers drove their car into a police vehicle to evade arrest at Thoppumpady Old Bridge in the wee hours of Tuesday. The police have arrested a Fort Kochi native, Ashiq, in connection with the incident. According to the police, the same gang had an encounter with the Chengamanad police team the previous day.
Acting on a tip-off about a drug smuggling attempt, the Chengamanad police tried to intercept a TATA Nexon car registered in Ernakulam on Monday. However, the vehicle sped away. When the police started chasing them, the offenders threw a bag containing 100 grams of MDMA out of their car and escaped.
Meanwhile, the Kochi City police started tracing the movement of the vehicle following information from the Ernakulam Rural police. “We received the information that the car was moving on the Ernakulam-Fort Kochi route around 3.15am. Thus, our team tried to intercept the vehicle at the Thoppumpady Old Bridge. When the vehicle reached the eastern end of the bridge, our team signalled the driver to stop.
However, the driver rammed the parked police vehicle, injuring a sub-inspector, and went towards the Mattancherry side. The injured officer was shifted to the hospital” a police official said.
However, the police team later chased the vehicle and intercepted it at Mattancherry. Though the wpolice arrested Ashiq, four others in the vehicle managed to escape.
Ashiq was later handed over to the Chengamanad police.
Five arrested
The police on Tuesday arrested five persons in the case related to seizure of 100 grams of MDMA that was thrown out of a speeding car at Chengamanad on Monday. The police had signalled to stop the car but it sped away. The arrested persons are Mattancherry natives Sanoop, 26, Ansil, 23, Shinaz, 25, Fort Kochi native Shahil, 27, and Aslam, 24, of Kanjoor. Earlier, police had seized the vehicle used by the accused persons for smuggling MDMA from Bengaluru at Mattancherry and arrested a Fort Kochi native Althaf. Chengamanad police tried to intercept the vehicle on Monday but it did not stop. When police started the chase, a bag containing drugs was hurled onto the road. Sanoop, Ansil and Shinaz were inside the car along with Althaf.