THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The excise team probing the seizure of hybrid ganja worth Rs 2 crore from Alappuzha has filed its preliminary report recommending transfer of the case to central agencies as multiple angles — some of them remaining out of excise department’s purview — have popped up during investigation.
The preliminary report, which a source said was filed on Wednesday before the excise top guns, revealed that the case has wider ramifications, as the main culprits were connected to rackets involved in gold, sex, and drug trafficking.
“There has been mention of several financial transactions running into millions of rupees in the report. The accused have an international connection also and hence it will be prudent to handover further probe to an agency that has the means and authority to probe various elements involved in the case,” said an excise source.
Tasleema Sultana, alias Cristina, and a male accomplice were arrested on April 2 after they were found possessing 3 kg of hybrid ganja -- a substance more expensive than synthetic drugs such as MDMA. Her husband, Sultan Akbar Ali, was arrested a week later after it was discovered that he was actively involved in the operation.
The extent of the couple’s links to criminal cartels became apparent after Sultan, a native of Tamil Nadu, was apprehended. It was revealed that, posing as a dealer of electronic gadgets, he frequently travelled to countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, where he used his connections with gold and drug traffickers to carry out illegal activities.
Sources indicated that he had also been involved in gold smuggling, and that some of his visits to Malaysia were intended to procure hybrid ganja sourced from Thailand.
To mask his travel history, Sultan reportedly obtained duplicate passports three times by falsely claiming his previous ones had been lost. He was found to have travelled to Malaysia seven times, and on at least two occasions, returned using either a short-term passport or an emergency certificate, the sources had said.
The case had evoked wide interest as Tasleema had connections with film industry. She had reportedly told the sleuths during interrogation that she had supplied drugs to some of Malayalam movie stars.