The City Shadow Police on Wednesday arrested three persons with seven kilograms of ganja allegedly meant for distribution at film and serial shooting locations in the city.
The accused, arrested from the Container Terminal Road with the contraband, were identified as Ijaz, 29, and Nousheer, 26, of Wayanad and Anes, 25, of Cherthala. The arrest was the culmination of a two-week long surveillance by the Shadow Police based on information received by City Police Commissioner M.P. Dinesh on the rampant usage of drugs at film and serial shooting locations in and around the city, a release issued by the police said.
The police said the arrested were part of a drug racket that smuggled ganja from Odisha to Kerala. Reportedly, the contraband cultivated in the forest-bordering villages of Rayagada district along the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha border taking advantage of the scant police presence, was procured by the accused directly from farmers.
The ganja, brought from Rayagada to Visakhapatnam by bus, was transported to Kochi on trailers transporting cars to Kerala to evade police checking. According to the police, the accused have confessed to have smuggled drugs, including hashish and ganja, to Kochi seven times in the past three months.
The ganja, bought for ₹4,000 a kilogram, is sold by middlemen at shooting locations as Idukki Gold for five times that price. The police are on the lookout for a woman in Rayagada who reportedly sold ganja to the accused and those in the film and serial industries who have connection with them, said R. Karuppasamy, Deputy Police Commissioner.
The accused have reportedly confessed to the police that people from Kerala, including women, used to visit Rayagada to buy ganja in bulk. Assistant Commissioner of Police Biji George led the team that included sub inspectors Honey K. Das and Shyamkumar, and assistant Sub-Inspector Nissar carried out the arrest.