A special investigation squad of the Ernakulam Rural police on Saturday arrested five persons with 400 g of MDMA, a premium recreational drug.
The arrested were identified as Muneesh, 27, of Kannur; Afsal, 23, of Vazhakkulam; Dennis, 25, of Alappuzha; Muhammad Ansar, 26, of Edathala; and Asrath, 20, of Pookkattupady.
Initially, the police nabbed three persons in a car with 634 mg of MDMA at T.B. Junction in Angamaly. In an ensuing investigation, 400 g of MDMA kept hidden in a scooter was found and two more arrests were made.
The drug was allegedly smuggled in from Bengaluru. While three members of the gang reached Coimbatore by bus and then proceeded to Kerala in a car, another member continued travelling by bus.
Learning that the three in the car had been intercepted by the police, Muneesh who was in the bus disembarked and allegedly fled on his friend Asrath’s scooter. They were chased down by the police at Kunnatheri near Aluva.
The police said that the gang had initially gone to Delhi for sourcing the drugs. As the attempt failed, they left for Bengaluru. “Probe is on to find the potential clients for whom the drug was smuggled in,” said K. Karthik, District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural).
A team comprising DySPs P.K. Sivankutty and P.P. Shams, Angamaly Station House Officer Sony Mathai, sub inspectors Eldho Paul and Akbar Sadat, assistant sub inspectors Shibin, Ajitha Thilakan, and Ali, and District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force members were part of the operation.
