Intelligence agencies have started looking into the suspected links between terror outfits and the smuggling of high-grade narcotic substances into Kerala all the way from Russia even as a drug racket has reportedly issued threats to officials of a special Excise squad that had seized a huge quantity of the psychoactive drug, Methylenedioxy Methamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as Ecstasy, from near the Kochi airport on Saturday.
The Central Intelligence Bureau (IB) has collected details connected with Saturday’s seizure of MDMA on the basis of the suspicion that the racket behind the smuggling of the high-grade recreational drug might have terror links. The racket is said to be controlled by Keralites residing in the Arabian Gulf.
The Enforcement and Anti-Narcotics Special Squad of the Excise Department has received information indicating that consignments of extremely costly psychoactive drugs like MDMA are being smuggled into Kerala through Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir with the help of suspected terrorists for the purpose of forwarding to the Gulf.
The assumption is that terror men could be behind the smuggling of the Russia-manufactured recreational drugs from Afghanistan to Kashmir via Pakistan. “It is a well-known fact that terror outfits do indulge in drug-trafficking and trade in order to raise funds. There is reason to suspect that such links are possible in this case also,” said a senior Excise official.
According to sources, Excide officials have received information that the kingpin of the Ecstasy racket is a Kochi native residing in Kuwait, known as ‘Bhai’. The department is said to have received crucial details about this person and investigations are already on to find out his suspected terror connections.
Meanwhile, a report said that the Special Excise Squad of Aluva near Kochi has received threat from the drug racket. The main content of the threat, conveyed through Internet call, is that the officials in the squad would not cause troubles anymore. The origin of the message, which was received by the informant, has been traced to Mumbai.
The message in Hindi also warned that the racket had already collected all the details of the officials of the squad including their photographs. The Excise Special Squad had on Saturday seized five kilos of MDMA valued at Rs 30 crore in the international market from near the Kochi International Airport at Nedumbassery.
Two persons acting as couriers of the drug consignment, Faisal and Abdul Salam of Mannarkad in Palakkad district, were held in the operation. They have admitted to the officials that they had smuggled drugs several times earlier. The drug seizure was the result of a strenuous operation that had taken several months.
According to sources, the MDMA seized from near Nedumbassery was of top-grade quality and this was the biggest ever Ecstasy seizure in Kerala so far. According to information received by officials, ‘Bhai’ had started off as an agent of psychotropic drugs but later shifted base to the Gulf to act as middleman of an extensive racket.
Efforts to smuggle recreational drugs from Russia to Gulf through Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Kerala had come to the notice of the Excise Department two-and-a-half years back. Three persons had surrendered in an Excise Department office on July 26, 2015 after a failed bid to clandestinely smuggle out 1,500 grams of brown sugar.