Karnataka natives among over 4,000 held in anti-narcotic drive in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: A crackdown on drug rackets in Kerala is leading to arrest of many involved in smuggling narcotic substances to the state from Karnataka.

Over 4,000 cases were registered and around 4,200 persons have been arrested so far during the last two weeks in operation D-hunt launched by the Kerala police following back to back incidents of people involved in drug abuse indulging in heinous crimes.

On Sunday four persons, including three Karnataka natives, were held from Muthanga in Wayanad with 17 gram hashish oil and ganja.

A network of police agencies of southern states formed last month have helped in cracking around 15 sources of narcotic substance supply chains to Kerala from other states.

Additional director general of police (law and order) Manoj Abraham said that states like Karnataka and Goa are the major sources of synthetic drugs like MDMA being smuggled into Kerala.

"The network of enforcement agencies of southern states was formed as per the decision of the southern zone DGPs' meeting. The aim is to effectively curb the source of drug supply chains by swiftly sharing information. Within three weeks over 15 cases could be cracked using the network," he told DH.

In a major crack down, enforcement agencies nabbed around 75 persons with drugs in Kochi city on Saturday during a night operation.

Ranjith Gopinath alias RG Wayanadan, a make-up artist who worked on many popular films, was held with 45 gram hybrid ganja by the state excise officials while he was reportedly proceeding towards a film set in Wagamon, Idukki district during the wee hours of Sunday.

On Saturday a person was held from Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta for selling MDMA by using his ten year old son as a carrier. The narcotics were found hidden on the back side of the boy using adhesive tapes.

At Kozhikode 28 year old Shanid Saleem died on Saturday after he swallowed two packets of MDMA to escape police frisking.

Last year over 24,000 persons were arrested in the state in narcotics cases. He also claimed that the conviction rate in such cases was 98 per cent, —highest in the country—and that based on information given by the state agencies, arrests were made in other states and a huge cache of narcotics was recovered from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.