The city police on Saturday midnight arrested seven persons, including a foreigner, for possession and consumption of banned drugs during a raid carried out in hotel Le Meridian.
The arrested persons have been identified as Psykovsky alias Vasily Markelov, 37, a popular DJ from Moscow, Rahul Pratap, 26, and Sumit, 24, of Kottayam, Safwal, 22 and Gautam, 25, from Thrissur and Sebastian, 24, a native of Vyttila and Vinu, 24, of Maradu in Kochi. They have been booked under the NDPS Act for possession of banned drugs.
During the raid, led by Harishankar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kochi city, the sleuths also seized narcotics, including 5 grams of Ketamine powder, marijuana, cocaine powder and ganja.
“Apart from the drug seized from their possession, we could also recover packets of narcotics lying unattended on the floor of the party hall. Investigations are also on to trace those who dropped it on the floor to escape the police search.” the official said.
The raid started at around 9 p.m. after members of shadow police wing alerted Maradu police about the use of narcotics like ganja in the party.
The police team examined about 200 people, who attended the party, and the inspections continued till 1 a.m. on Sunday.
Initially, three cops in plain clothes had entered into the party hall in the pretext of attending it and confirmed the use of the drugs before the raid was conducted.
The DJ party, organised by a Thrissur-based team, was promoted through Facebook and WhatsApp and the participants needed to purchase a ticket of Rs. 1,000 per head to attend the party. Of this, the organisers and the hotel would share Rs. 200 each while the remaining share of the proceeds would go to the DJ team.
The City Police have been monitoring dance and DJ parties taking place in the city on the basis of reports about the involvement of narcotic racket in organising the events.
In July last year, it raided a popular night club for narcotic drugs and seized 7 grams of ganja lying unattended on the dance floor.
Similarly, they also raided a luxury boat anchored off Marine Drive during a cruise party and seized some packets of ganja and liquor.
Party was promoted through social media
Arrested booked for possession of banned drugs
