One person was arrested by the Chavara police on Wednesday from the defunct Premo Pipe Factory complex for allegedly carrying 150 packets of ganja. The accused has been identified as Shahnavas alias Thalavan, 33, a resident of Mukkuthodu Lakshamveedu colony in Chavara.
Sub-Inspector G. Gopakumar who made the arrested said that Shahnavas, a long-time ganja peddler, was also involved in several motorcycle theft cases. The packets contained 4 grams to 7 grams of ganja each which he sold for rates ranging from Rs.100 to Rs.200 a packet depending upon the financial capacity of his clients.
Most of his clients were college students in Karunagapally, Kollam and Chavara areas and also some workers attached to the Neendakara fishing harbour. The Karunagapally assistant commissioner of police, K.R. Sivasudhan Pillai, recently got a tip-off about the peddler’s activities and followed it up through the Chavara police.
Circle Inspector Binu Sreedhar said that 720 grams of ganja were seized from Shanavas at the time of his arrest. He said that Shanavas was involved in about 40 motorcycle theft cases registered by the Kollam East, Chavara, Karunagapally and Kayamkulam police stations. He is also an accused in five narcotic cases registered by the Excise Department. Shanavas was produced before a magistrate court at Chavara and remanded to the district jail here. Meanwhile, the Kollam West police arrested a 38-year-old man from the Thirumullavaram beach on Wednesday on charges of peddling ganja. He was identified as Padmachandran alias Pappan, residing at Thirumullavaram. He was arrested by Sub-Inspector N. Girish on the basis of a tip-off received by City Police Commissioner P. Prakash.
A man was arrested by the Pallithottam police following the seizure of a large quantity of banner tobacco products from him on Wednesday.
