Enforcement agencies have intensified their crackdown on narco mafias following a surge in drug-fuelled crimes. This full-blooded pushback revives memories of a high-profile arrest made by the excise department last year.
Back then, the arrest of Adimali resident Shajimon, aka ‘Moorkhan’ (cobra) Shaji, from Madurai crippled an international racket that specialised in smuggling hashish oil.
Shaji entered the scene in the 1990s when Idukki became infamous for cannabis sourced from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. He took over the reins after the mysterious death of Kambilikandam Thomas, who inspired the character Kambilikandam Jose in the Mammootty-starrer Roudram.
Though the driving force behind a drug cartel spanning the country with international links, Shaji remained low-key, determined not to leave his imprint behind. He was caught in the mid-2000s in an Abkari case, but his drug connections were overlooked.
It took enforcement agencies nearly 15 years to arrest him in a drug-related case. By then, he had built an empire through subterfuge, cunning, cold-blooded viciousness, and meticulous planning.
After securing bail in a 2018 hashish oil seizure case, Shaji went into hiding. The agencies launched a manhunt after the Supreme Court cancelled his bail and issued an arrest warrant.
Sources say Shaji leveraged the connections he had forged over the past decade to evade capture. “He found safe havens in Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and several other states. He forged documents and even used the identity cards of relatives and acquaintances to mislead the agencies for years,” says an officer.
However, while he outmanoeuvred law enforcement, he could not escape the 'sketching' of a rival drug gang. This group eventually tracked him down in Srirangam. They kidnapped him, confined him to a hotel room, and beat him to a pulp, demanding a ransom of Rs 1 crore from one of Shaji’s contacts.
A senior excise official tells TNIE that Shaji’s “shrewdness helped him escape” this dire situation.
“It seemed to be the end of the road for Shaji. But he clawed back to life in his own inimitable manner. He threw himself against the glass panel of the hotel room where he was held hostage and landed on the ground,” he says.
When local residents called the police, Shaji feigned a drunken brawl with friends and complained of chest pain. The police took him to a nearby hospital. Unaware of his true identity, they maintained lax security.
Shaji seized the opportunity. “He asked the policeman accompanying him to fetch a towel. When the guy returned, Shaji was long gone,” the excise officer says.
Though the agencies repeatedly came close to nabbing him, his use of multiple aliases confounded them. “Moreover, he had a knack for networking. Apart from forging camaraderie with criminal elements in remote Indian states, he cultivated well-wishers within the force as well. While conducting a background study of Shaji, we found that even the record of his first criminal case was missing,” says the officer.
Despite being on the run, he continued to oversee drug consignments trafficked to distant countries through various south Indian ports.
His luck finally ran out in October 2024, when excise officials received a tip-off about his presence near Madurai.
They scanned hotels in the area, but found no trace of him. Just as they began to believe he had yet again slipped through their fingers, they spotted a man exiting a nearby hotel via the rear door, his face covered to avoid detection.
Excise Inspector G Krishnakumar, who now heads a special enforcement squad, recounts the moment they captured him: “On seeing us, he fled and darted into thorny bushes nearby. We followed him and, after a prolonged search — during which we sustained injuries from the thorns — we finally managed to nab him.”
Another team member recalls Shaji “playing smooth and smart” during interrogation. “He knew the grilling game. Eventually, however, he divulged crucial information about his network,” he says.
“We can easily call him a kingpin of narco trade in south India. Following his arrest, there was indeed a dip in hash oil smuggling.”