“Connect to Commissioner,” a public outreach programme of S. Surendran, District Police Chief (Kochi City), to gather information, helped the city police arrest two youngsters with 15.4 kg of ganja from a KSRTC bus near the Kaloor metro station on Friday.
The arrested were identified as Abhishek, 30, of Balaramapuram in Thiruvananthapuram, and Ananthu Babu, 22, of Irinjalakkuda in Thrissur. They were picked up after intercepting the bus following a tip-off received through the number published under Connect to Commissioner.
According to the police, they had smuggled in the drug aimed at youngsters and visitors to various resorts in Kochi for celebrating the vacation. The accused had also targeted DJ parties and college hostel inmates who chose to stay back during the vacation. The police said the two used to buy ganja from Visakhapatanam for ₹4,000 per kg and make as much as ₹40,000 here by selling the drug in small packs at ₹5,000 each.
A special team led by Deputy Commissioner J. Himendranath; Assistant Commissioner P.S. Suresh; Palarivattom Inspector P.S. Sreejesh; and comprising sub inspector V.P. Xavier, assistant sub inspector Suresh Kumar, senior civil police officers Jayakumar and Gireesh Kumar, and civil police officers Mahin Abubacker, Sreekanth, Ratheesh, T.R. Aneesh, and P.B. Vigil Varghese made the arrest.
