THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Excise special squad probing the 500 kilogram ganja seizure at Korani, near Attingal in Thiruvananthapuram will seek the assistance of central investigation agencies to nab the kingpin Raju Bhai who is based in Andhra Pradesh.
The sleuths decided to seek Centre's support as the preliminary probe revealed his links with Naxal groups based in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The investigating team received vital information about Raju Bhai from Jayachandran Nair, who landed in Excise net on Saturday.
A top Excise officer told TNIE that Raju Bhai has strong connections with Naxal groups. "We can find him only with the help of the National Investigation Agency or other probe agencies. In fact, Raju is residing in a place where the concentration of Naxals is high," the officer said.
Upon interrogation, Jayachandran revealed that he and Jithin from Kannur had wired Rs 30 lakh for routing the contraband to various parts of Kerala from Andhra Pradesh. Raju Bhai supplied ganja and stored it in large quantity in the container. Kulwant Singh, the driver of the truck who was arrested, is a close aide of Raju Bhai.
The Excise is trying to trace other Malayali suppliers such as Sebu, Apesh and Jithin. According to Excise, Sebu, the key agent in state, Jithesh of Kannur and Apesh of Thiruvananthapuram have reportedly fled to Mysuru.
The truck landed in the excise net after supplying ganja to dealers based in Kannur, Kozhikode and Thrissur. The Andhra Pradesh-registered truck was intercepted on September 6 at Korani, while proceeding to capital to supply the contraband to Jayachandran and Apesh.
The drug was packed in 250 packets and concealed in secret chambers on top of container. The value of the consignment is estimated at Rs 20 crore.