KOCHI: Malappuram resident Ashique, who was arrested on Friday, used to procure MDMA from an Omani national in bulk for a meagre Rs 350 per gram, the police probing the seizure of the drugs from West Kochi in January have found. He then smuggled the drugs to Kochi through the carriers that he had recruited.
The police said Ashique confessed to easily procuring the MDMA in Oman for a cheap rate. They also found that he had recruited several gullible people as carriers to smuggle the MDMA to Kochi.
“Peddlers procuring MDMA from Bengaluru have to pay around Rs 800-Rs 1,000 per gram. However, Ashique got it for just Rs 350. It was procured in bulk. The carriers were paid Rs 1 lakh as commission for each trip in which over 1kg of MDMA was smuggled. Ayesha Gaffer, who was arrested in January, had travelled to Oman multiple times to bring MDMA. Ashique also took several people to Oman, who were later used as carriers,” a source said.
The MDMA, said the police, was smuggled inside food products. “Last time, it was concealed inside a flask. Since MDMA is in crystal form, smugglers also use food products for the purpose,” said an officer, adding that enforcement agencies at airports do not expect people to smuggle drugs from GCC countries due to the strict norms there.
Though they had been after Ashique for the past one month, the police could not track him down. “Though he was simply an employee at a supermarket in Oman, Ashique lived luxuriously. He used multiple high-end phones and had built a two-storey house in Malappuram. After placing people close to him under surveillance, we learnt he would be arriving at his native place to celebrate his wedding anniversary. We took him into custody when he arrived,” a police officer said.