Three migrant workers held for ‘heroin supply’

KOCHI: The Ernakulam Rural police on Tuesday arrested three Assamese workers who have allegedly been providing drugs to migrants for several months. Hairul Islam, 31, Ahmed Ali, 35, and Musidul Islam, 26, were arrested from a rented house at Kaipoorikkara in Chembarakky near Aluva with 153 grams of heroin. According to the police, the trio was caught while they were going on a motorbike tosell the drugs packed in small plastic containers.

“We followed them for a few days after receiving a tipoff. After we came to know about their plan, we intercepted them and recovered a small quantity of heroin packed in containers. When we inspected their rented house, we were able to seize 153 grams of heroin,” said a police officer.They had concealed the heroin inside a PVC pipe in separate packets.To prevent moisture from damaging the drugs, they had wrapped the substance with diapers. They used to sell the heroin in small packets for `600 to `1,000 to the migrant workers.

“They used to bring drugs from their native place. We also found that they frequently travelled to their village. It is evident that they had been in the drug trade for months. We have also started a probe to identify their customers. We believe more people are involved in this,” said the officer.