Three-member gang held with hashish worth Rs 1.8cr

Thiruvananthapuram: In a major catch, the excise officials in Thiruvananthapuram Circle on Thursday arrested three men with 1.8kg hashish that costs around Rs 1.8 crore in the market.
One of the arrested was wanted by the excise officials here in connection with the catch of 10kg hashish oil from a gang in the parking lot of a hotel at Mannanthala in May this year. He was the one, who supplied the stuff to the gang that was arrested in that case. Even though the officials made several trips to Idukki to catch him, he successfully managed to evade arrest. The officials identified the accused as Shaji alias Moorkhan Shaji, 48, of Devikulam in Idukki.

Melbin, 43, and Rajesh, 43, both hailing from Devikulam are the other two accused.

The gang was nabbed with the contraband while they were waiting for buyers in a by-road near Swathi Tirunal College of Music at Thycaud.

It was a team led by excise circle inspector (Thiruvananthapuram) T Anikumar that made the arrests.

Officials said that Shaji was the kingpin of the racket. He smuggled hashish oil in large scale from gangs in the forests in Andhra Pradesh and sold among dealers here. Melbin was his right hand man, who helped him in smuggling the stuff into the state.

The officials said that the gang was in the city to cut a deal with another gang that was looking to smuggle hashish oil to Maldives. The stuff that the accused brought were just samples.

The excise team wanted to nab the members of the other gang too. But, they had to move fast as they thought that waiting more would give the accused ample time to detect the law enforcers and escape with the stuff. tnn