KOCHI: Having travelled hundreds of kilometres from Odisha by train and then switching to a bus, allegedly to avoid suspicion, four suspected drug traffickers were intercepted by the excise department at Karukutty just as they were preparing to deliver a 116.37 kg consignment of ganja to its distribution point in Kerala.
In one of Kerala’s biggest cannabis seizures in the past five years, the Angamaly excise range seized the contraband and arrested Balbhadra Dharua, Lakshman Patra, Taraswer Patra and Pradeep Ghadei, all belonging to Odisha. The operation was carried out as part of the department’s intensified anti-narcotics campaign, Operation Thunder.
According to Deputy Excise Commissioner P K Satheesh, the operation was launched based on a specific tip-off. Acting on the intelligence, excise department officials kept up the surveillance on the suspects and intercepted them.
Officials said a preliminary investigation indicated that the accused were part of an organised interstate drug trafficking network. The excise team seized the entire consignment before it could enter the local distribution chain. The accused have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and will be produced before the court.
A total of 116.37 kg of ganja, estimated to be worth around `1.25 crore in the illicit market, was seized. The contraband had been packed into 58 packets and concealed in 11 shoulder bags. The four-member gang was intercepted around 5.30 am on Saturday, according to the excise.
Officials said traffickers have also altered their routes in response to heightened enforcement in Kochi city.
“Now, peddlers are aware of the intensified surveillance there, so they are increasingly operating through the Angamaly-Perumbavoor-Aluva belt,” an excise official said.
He added that the department has stepped up intelligence gathering and surveillance in these areas to intercept consignments before they reach local distribution networks.
The excise department has launched a detailed investigation to identify the source of the contraband, trace the supply chain, and unearth local links associated with the racket. Officials are also examining whether the accused have links to other interstate drug trafficking cases.
The seizure comes amid the excise department’s statewide enforcement drive under Operation Thunder, launched on May 18. According to official data, the campaign has so far resulted in 24,131 raids, 20,669 cases including 1,983 NDPS cases, and the arrest of 1,793 persons under the NDPS Act. Excise officials described the Angamaly operation as one of the most significant breakthroughs of the ongoing crackdown on interstate narcotics trafficking.