The Excise Crime Branch probing the seizure of over 1 kg of MDMA, a premium drug, from an apartment at Thrikkakara last month, took Thaiba, one of the six accused in the case, around the city and suburbs for evidence collection on Thursday.
She was initially taken to an apartment at Thrikkakara where she had lived with Sreemon, another accused, as husband and wife. Excise officials, however, do not suspect the apartment to have been used for hiding the contraband at any point.
Later, she was taken to Nettoor, Panangad, Madavana, and Cheppanam where the gang is suspected to have moved around to sell drugs. Her three-day custody expired on Thursday, and she will now be returned to judicial custody.
“More arrests in the case may follow,” said investigation sources.
The Excise, however, is still in the dark about the original source of what is considered to be a premium party drug. While officials are confident that the drug was sourced from the Triplicane area in Chennai, they are not sure whether it was domestically manufactured or imported in the guise of cargo.
Chennai is also considered as one of the hotspots for smuggling in premium drugs from abroad and then supplying them domestically, Excise sources said. Earlier this month, two of the six accused in the case were taken to various places in Puducherry and Chennai where the duo along with two others had stayed to procure the synthetic drug.
The gang used to feign as a family and moved around two ferocious dogs, ostensibly to evade checking. Excise had seized the dogs as well along with the drug.
