KOCHI: That elusive major drug cartel operating out of Bengaluru is becoming a major cause of worry for enforcement agencies in Kerala as almost all the seizures of psychotropic drugs, like MDMA and LSD made in Kerala between January 2020 and May 2021, have provided evidence regarding the direct involvement of this cartel.
Officials admit that only small-time carriers land in the net during enforcement activities, while the big sharks continue to evade the long arm of the law or at least remain outside the reach of the agencies.
According to the data available with the agencies in Kerala, nearly one kg of MDMA was seized from across the state between January 2020 and May 2021 and nearly 80 per cent of the MDMA seized during the period had been sourced from Bengaluru.
Senior officers in Kerala say that busting the activities of this cartel is not that easy, considering the fact the cartel has managed to establish a strong network in Karnataka. But with the number of cases rising in the past year, the excise department has decided to go after this cartel in a big way to bring them to justice.
“On several occasions, we had tried to nab the linchpins of the cartel from Bengaluru. But it’s not that easy. We have now decided to take up the matter with the Karnataka government and launch a coordinated effort to hunt them down,” said Excise Commissioner S Aananthakrishnan.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is also coordinating the activities of various agencies concerned to pin the activities of the cartel and a probe by the NCB recently found that major drug syndicates in Western Europe were directly running the drug trade through a distribution network in Bengaluru, which involves several Malayalis. “Earlier, it were Nigerians. But now, European gangs are controlling the supply chain by offering lucrative commission to local retailers,” said an NCB officer. Apart from MDMA, the cartel is into trafficking of LSD, which is in high demand in Kerala. Data show that 5.45 gm of LSD blots had been seized in the state in 2020.
“Lockdown-induced economic crisis has thrown up a major opportunity for the cartel to recruit more carriers and flood the market with low-priced MDMA and LSD. Many new recruits from Kerala choose to join the distribution network for easy money it offers,” the officer added.
COUPLE ARRESTED WITH 22 GM OF MDMA
Kochi : A couple was arrested while transporting 22 gm of MDMA drugs in train at Aluva on Saturday. The contraband was smuggled for selling it to youths. Sanoop, 24, and his wife Rizwana alias Rakhi R, 21, natives and now residing at Mattancherry,were the arrested, said police. Acting on a tip-off that the couple was travelling with drugs, they were apprehended during a check carried out on the Bangalore Kanyakumari Island Express. They confessed that they brought the drugs to sell to the youth. The seized MDMA is worth around D1 lakh, said police adding that Sanoop was booked in several drug peddling cases registered at various police stations. A team led by Ernakulam Rural Police Narcotics Cell DySP K Ashwakumar and Aluva East Police Station Inspector PS Rajesh made the arrest.