The Excise team probing the MDMA haul from a courier firm has arrested the person who attempted to push the contraband to Malaysia via Kochi.
The arrested has been identified as Prasanth Kumar, a Kannur native residing in Chennai. Officials are now on the lookout for Ali, who is regarded as the kingpin of an international smuggling ring, in this connection. Prasanth got acquainted with Ali through one of his friends identified as Subair.
Prasanth had sent the contraband, concealed in eight cartons of textile consignment, to Kochi through a private courier service agency at Egmore in Chennai.
“They were intending to transport the contraband to Malaysia through a private air cargo service in the city. The courier agent, however, grew suspicious of their intention behind re-routing the packet through Kochi instead of sending it directly,” said Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh.
Origin of contraband
The officials, meanwhile, are yet to ascertain the origin of the contraband.
According to the officials, a bulk of the synthetic drug sold across the continent is being produced in China while it is transported to India primarily through Sri Lanka, before being rerouted to the Middle East or other South Asian countries.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused had pushed drugs to Malaysia through the same route earlier in August last. At that time, they had been to Kochi and stayed at a lodge on M.G. Road.
“Buoyed by the success of their initial attempt, they planned to give it another shot and came down to Kochi once again. This time, however, the plan did not work out after they chose not to furnish the address in a timely manner,” said Mr. Singh.
Following the packet’s seizure , the accused had gone into hiding but was later traced to Chennai with the help of the various Central and State anti-narcotic agencies.
A special team comprising Excise Inspector Sreerag and Preventive Officer Sathya Narayanan was sent to Chennai and Prasanth was taken into custody with the help of the Tamil Nadu narcotic department. He was then brought to Kochi and arrested after due interrogation. A probe is also on to ascertain whether the accused received any help from Kochi during their stay here.
The contraband worth ₹200 crore was impounded on September 29.
In view of the incident, the Department has launched a special drive to crack down on drug trafficking through couriers and conducted raids at various parcel service agencies across the State.
