Mother accomplice in son's drug dealing; Shady textile business in Thiruvananthapuram and more

NEYYATTINKARA: The Excise Enforcement and Anti-Narcotics Special Squad arrested a four-member gang smuggling MDMA from Bengaluru on the pretext of a family trip. The excise squad stopped the vehicle in which the accused were travelling in front of the Aralumoodu market in Neyyattinkara and seized 125 grams of MDMA.

Kiran (33), a resident of Aksharayveethi in Eanchakkal; his mother Beena (50); Kiran's female friend Sandhya (18), a native of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu; and Akshay A.S. Nair (26), a native of Chalai, were arrested.

The family were selling clothes to street vendors during the Onam festival. To avoid excise inspections during the trip, they would buy a few clothes and pretend to be travelling with their family. The MDMA was found expertly hidden in the vehicle's stereo system. Even the officers were shocked that the mother was an accomplice in her own son's drug dealing. When the mobile phones recovered from the accused were examined, it became clear that the drug dealing and transactions were mainly centred around the mother's phone.

Kiran has an eight-year-old daughter. Although he separated from his wife two years ago, the child lived with Kiran. The child was also in the vehicle when the police stopped them. The excise officials called the relatives and handed over the child.

The gang was caught after continuous surveillance conducted by Excise Squad Circle Inspector Hirosh V.R. as part of Operation Thunder, following a tip-off. Rs. 10,500 and four mobile phones were seized from the accused. Since MDMA was seized in commercial quantities, further investigation of the case will be conducted by senior officials. Excise officials said that more arrests will be made in the coming days. Assistant Excise Commissioner R. Manoj reached the spot and gave instructions.

The arrest was led by a team comprising Excise Circle Inspector Hirosh, Excise Inspector Nishad, Preventive Officers Ranjith, Krishnakumar, Ajayan, and Visakh, Civil Excise Officers Aromal Rajan, Gokul, Vinod, Rajesh P. Rajan, Akshay, Binoj, Abhijith, Hari Prasad, and Female Civil Excise Officers Haritha, Sajitha, and Arya Krishnan.