Two kg MDMA seized in Kochi was brought on Kerala Express in luggage wagon: Police

KOCHI: The nearly 2 kg of MDMA seized by the DANSAF team in Mattancherry was brought to Kochi on the Kerala Express, police have found. The drugs were allegedly concealed inside air coolers and sent from Delhi on September 1 under the guise of electronic goods.

The consignment was transported by SRE Logistics, a Delhi-based company that had taken a railway contract to handle parcels on a lease basis. The parcels containing the drugs were booked in the names of the company’s agents in Kochi. Investigators suspect this was done to conceal the identities of the actual owners of the consignments.

The parcels containing the MDMA were unloaded from the luggage-cum-brake van attached to the engine of the Kerala Express at Ernakulam North railway station on September 3. They were taken out through platform No. 2. Investigators have obtained visuals of the parcels being loaded into an autorickshaw. Other parcels were reportedly taken by the agents to the company’s warehouse in Kalamassery.

Around 100 parcels, both large and small, were loaded in Delhi. The consignments were also unloaded at railway stations including Erode and Vijayawada.

Kochi City Police questioned Rohit and Manoj, the company’s agents in Ernakulam. The goods had been booked and sent in their names. Police also conducted a search at the company’s warehouse. Investigators are reportedly close to identifying the autorickshaw used to transport the drug-laden parcels.

After confirming that the drugs had been transported by train, police conducted a detailed inspection of all parcels in the luggage-cum-brake van of the Kerala Express that arrived at Ernakulam North station yesterday evening.

The inspection was led by Railway DySP George Joseph, South RPF CI Binoy Antony, North RPF CI Vinod Nair, Railway CI Vibin Kumar, SHO A. Nisaruddin, SI Sunilkumar and RPF SI Sreejith. The investigation is now focused on tracing the people who booked the consignments, identifying the actual owners of the parcels and determining the wider network behind the drug trafficking operation.