Maldivians held with 17kg hashish oil

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In major narcotic haul, police have arrested notorious Maldivian drug dealer Shanees Maheer (27) and his accomplices Ayman Ahamed (24) and Ibrahim Fauzen Saleh (29) and seized 17 kg of hashish oil.
They were trying to smuggle hashish oil to Maldives from Trivandrum international Airport. City Shadow police had been tailing the smugglers for the past three days.

Following a tip-off from National Drugs Control Bureau to Kerala Anti-Narcotic Special Action Force (KANSAF), an inter-country and inter-department search was launched to nab Maheer, an international drug dealer, who was on the run.

A shadow police team led by control room ASP Suresh Kumar, tracked down the trio, who kept shifting from one luxury hotel to the other within the city limits. Policemen, who checked into the same hotels, found that the men bought around 32kg dalda sachets. It is believed that the plan was to smuggle hash oil in the sachets after emptying the content.

Maheer has been engaged in transhipment and mid-sea transactions for carrying out the illegal activities. The other two also have connections across the international drug market. The police are also investigating whether there are any registered cases against them in any other countries.

Around 10kilograms of marijuana is required to extract 1kg hashish. The seized hashish oil is worth around 5 crore in the international market. The police said more arrests would be made in the coming days.

KANSAF and District Anti-Narcotic Special Action Force (DANSAF) were formed to combat the growth of drug mafia in the state. KANSAF director and IG, P Vijayan, city police commissioner P Prakash, DCP R Adithya, control room AC Suresh Kumar V, Cantonment CI Prasad, SI Sunil Lal, ASI Gopakumar, Arunkumar, Yashodharan and City Shadow Police offers were part of the team who arrested and investigated the case.