Rs 18 crore worth Heroin bound for Kuwait seized in Kochi

The officers of Narcotics Control Bureau have seized heroin worth over Rs 18 crore in different incidents in the state in the last two days and arrested six persons.

According to Indian media reports, their interrogation and modus operandi revealed that a Kuwait-based drug trafficking syndicate is active in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the drugs was supposed to smuggle to Kuwait by Kuwait Airlines from Kochi.

Based on a tip-off, a team of officers from the Kochi sub-zone had mounted surveillance around the Kochi international airport and the Thrissur railway station since Wednesday and the squad nabbed four persons Dileep P. Haridas, 27, Lijo K, Jose,32, P.H. Shaheer,40, and I.R. Vijeesh, 28, all natives of Thrissur from the international airport on Thursday and seized 1.5-kg heroin.

“One of them, Dileep, was supposed to smuggle this to Kuwait by Kuwait Airlines,” an officer said. On their interrogation, the officers learned that one of their associates was bringing three to four kg of heroin from Delhi to Thrissur by train to further smuggle it to Kuwait soon.

“Our officers were deployed in the Thrissur station and we seized four kg of heroin and arrested Thrissur natives M.T. Johnson, 58, and T.A. Francis, 53. Also on Thursday, our team nabbed half-kg heroin from the Thiruvananthapuram railway station. The contraband is worth around Rs 18 crore in the illegal market,” he said.

The drug syndicate is being operated from Kuwait with the gang having associates in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The latter arranges heroin and other drugs from Delhi and a member goes to Kuwait to deliver the consignment, the officer said.