Kochi | The Excise Department has busted a major drug racket that allegedly smuggled MDMA from Delhi to Keralam using women as carriers and arrested four people, officials said on Sunday.
Excise officials said around 279.3 grams of MDMA was recovered from the accused persons arrested in two separate operations involving members of the same racket.
S Vinod Kumar, Joint Excise Commissioner, said the Excise Ernakulam Range, acting on a tip-off, arrested two persons, including an 18-year-old woman, with 49.3 grams of MDMA from a luxury hotel in Kaloor here a few days back.
“Upon arresting and interrogating the two individuals, information was received regarding a person named Varun Dev, a wholesale dealer who traffics MDMA into Keralam. On getting information that they were coming to Ernakulam district on Saturday and that a deal was likely to take place, a search was conducted,” he told reporters.
Excise officials intercepted their vehicle at Vyttila after it got caught in a traffic block on Saturday and recovered 230 grams of MDMA and three grams of hashish oil from a secret compartment built under the steering wheel, he said.
The two persons identified as Varun Dev (35) and Vipin S Kumar (30), both from Pathanamthitta district, who were in the vehicle, were arrested by the Excise officials.
“Thus, a total of four accused have been arrested by us now. Six mobile phones and Rs 69,500 in cash have also been recovered from their possession,” Kumar said.
He said one of the arrested persons had earlier been caught with drugs by the police.
“Their modus operandi involves travelling to Delhi in this Mahindra Thar SUV, using women as carriers to bring the contraband in the vehicle to Keralam, and then retailing it here. Among them, the most important thing to note is that the girl caught in the first case turns 19 years old only in November this year,” Kumar said.
Kumar said the accused were targeting young people for their drug operations.
“So, they have a method of trapping young girls like this and using them for drug smuggling and drug trade. This is something that requires serious attention,” Kumar said.
He said most youngsters caught in cases registered under the NDPS Act were unaware of the legal consequences.
“For these commercial quantity cases, the law provides for imprisonment up to 20 years, with the minimum sentence being 10 years. So if convicted in this case, they will definitely receive a minimum sentence of 10 years. That can go up to a maximum of 20 years,” he said.
