More than a week after it arrested a person with top-grade MDMA in one of its purest forms, the Excise Department is on a mission to unearth evidence that may lead to the arrest of another suspect who remains on their radar.
The Excise Enforcement and Anti-Narcotic Special Squad had arrested one Sawad Haneefa aka ‘Guzmán from Calicut’ near Aluva railway station with 50 grams of MDMA last week. Officials believe he is one of the top two carriers catering to the demand for synthetic drugs in Kerala.
Since then, the department has identified one Mansoor as the other carrier who continues to move around in Kannur and Kozhikode belts. “However, we have not been able to dig up solid evidence linking him to the deal that could withstand legal scrutiny,” said a senior Excise official.
Though the department had got the custody of Sawad, he turned out to be a tough nut to crack. He would only say that the narcotic was handed over to him by Mansoor but declined to reveal anything more about the source of the drug, which is believed to be from Mumbai and Bangalore.
Excise sleuths are more or less convinced of the involvement of Mansoor and believe that they can expand the scope of their probe to other States, only after arresting him on solid evidence. “We are tying various avenues to prove his involvement,” said the officer without divulging anything further.
The duo, Excise officials believe, had been in the business for at least three or four years and mostly targeted youngsters in the 19 to 25 age group, especially in Kozhikode, Malappuram, and Ernakulam.
The arrest of two youngsters from Kozhikode with a small volume of MDMA and LSD last month had led the department to Sawad. The youngsters attributed their source to Guzmán from Calicut, which turned out to be his code name in the cartel to hide his real identity. Despite that, officials managed to track him down and had been closely watching his movements in the days leading up to his arrest. The officials had even got in touch with him in the pretext of buying drugs.
The substance seized from him was found to be the purest form of MDMA worth anywhere between ₹20,000 and ₹30, 000 per gram in the international market.