Kerala police bust international drug racket, arrest five accused

Kerala Police arrested five alleged members of an international drug trafficking network accused of smuggling hybrid ganja from Thailand through airports. The operation followed a record seizure of over 17 kg of hybrid ganja in Ernakulam Rural district

Kochi: Five persons allegedly linked to an international drug trafficking network have been arrested, police officials said on Sunday. The arrested were identified as Abu Tahir (39) of Mundur in Palakkad, Harikrishnan (25) of Thrikkadeeri in Ottapalam, Presjith (40) of Kadampazhippuram in Palakkad, Sreejesh (41) of Panamanna in Ottapalam and Sanjay P (22) of Chalavara in Ottapalam. The arrests were made by a special investigation team led by Ernakulam Rural District Police Chief K S Sudarshan from different places.

According to police, Abu Tahir, the alleged kingpin of the racket, was arrested in Bengaluru. Police said the accused were key members of an international drug trafficking network that smuggled hybrid ganja into Kerala through airports in Thailand.

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Officials said Tahir and Harikrishnan allegedly arranged visas, flight tickets and payments for carriers to travel to Thailand. The carriers allegedly returned to Kerala with hybrid ganja, and other accused in the case used to collect the contraband from outside the airports and distributed for sale.

Police seized mobile phones, bank transaction records, foreign travel documents and other digital evidence from the accused, officials said.

\Police had earlier arrested Ayush (39) and his wife Anika (30), both natives of Njarakkal, after first recovering 1.166 kg of hybrid ganja from the former during a vehicle check at Marampilly near Perumbavoor.

A subsequent search of their flat led to the seizure of another 16 kg of the contraband. Police described it as the biggest hybrid ganja seizure in Ernakulam Rural district and said further investigation is underway to identify others linked to the international drug network.