Police foil attempt to sell whale vomit worth 2.5 crore in Kochi

KOCHI: Police have arrested two youths for attempting to sell whale vomit (ambergris) in the city and seized 1.35 kg of the substance worth approximately Rs 2.5 crore. The accused were identified as Muhammad Suhail, 20, of Fort Kochi, and Suhail Saheer, 21, of Kalpeni in Lakshadweep.

The arrests were made early yesterday morning after two days of secret surveillance. Suhail Saheer, a bakery worker from Kalpeni, allegedly smuggled the ambergris to Kerala with the help of locals and planned to sell it in collaboration with Muhammad Suhail.

The operation was led by DySP Jimmy Jose, SI Mithun Ashok, and CPOs Edwin Ros, Sunil Kumar, Babylal, Sharath, and Umesh Udayan of the Dansaf team.

Fake account used for the deal

The accused had created a fake Facebook page to advertise the ambergris for sale. The page came to the attention of the police, prompting an investigation. Through the fake account, officers posed as buyers and negotiated with the suspects, initially offering Rs 35 lakh per kilogram and later settling the deal at Rs 25 lakh per kilogram. Cyber Police passed this information to the Dansaf team.

On Tuesday, Muhammad Suhail arrived near the Fort Kochi Ro-Ro jetty with a 35-gram sample and was apprehended by undercover police posing as customers.

Arrest made using force

The police told the accused that the deal would be finalised after verifying the sample. When the suspect later insisted on seeing the money in person, the police used force to arrest him. Following this, his accomplice from Kalpeni was also arrested at his residence early in the morning. An investigation is ongoing to trace the person from Kalpeni who supplied the ambergris.