Continuing its crackdown on an inter-State ganja smuggling network, the Ernakulam Rural police have arrested the alleged kingpin of the gang from Andhra Pradesh.
The arrested was identified as Pallasreenivasa Rao, 26, of Andhra Pradesh. A special squad formed by District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik nabbed the accused after a three-day-long operation in a hinterland 300 kilometres away from Vijayawada.
A taxi driver with suspected close links in the tribal belt, the accused used to be the contact person for Malayalis arriving in the area for ganja. The arrangement was such that he used to meet potential buyers along the national highway, showed samples, and if the clients were satisfied with the quality, a price was reached.
The buyers were then supposed to wait at a designated place till the accused returned with their vehicle to bring them the load. It took the accused hours before he returned with the well-packed load.
Taking advantage of this arrangement, the police team approached the accused in the guise of potential ganja buyers and nabbed him. Though he tried to flee while being arrested, the police team chased him down. Since the hub of the ganja has Maoist presence, it was risky to arrest the accused from there, the police said.
Angamaly seizure
The accused is suspected to have played middleman in the smuggling of thousands of kilograms of ganja into Kerala. The seizure of 105 kg of ganja while being smuggled into Kerala in two premium cars from near the Angamaly KSRTC stand led to the discovery of the network. Following this, Mr. Karthik formed the special squad, which expanded the probe to other States as well.
During the course of the probe, the police seized more ganja consignments and arrested seven persons actively associated with the network. The probe reportedly unveiled the network smuggling the drug into Kerala.
It was found that the tribal belt of Andhra Pradesh used to be the hub of ganja smuggling into Kerala and the drug network had the support of some locals that made the arrest of those involved troublesome.
The probe team even faced attacks at some point. “The arrest of the key accused is likely to help us bust the network supplying ganja to Kerala and arrest more people,” said Mr. Karthik.
The probe team comprising Narcotic Cell DySP K. Ashwakumar, inspector M. Surendran, sub inspector T.M. Soofy, senior civil police officers Rony Augustine, P.S. Jeemon, and Prasad made the arrest.
