Ganja smuggling using women, Excise bust 'family trip' ploy

IDUKKI: Excise officials seized 400 grams of ganja from a Swift Dzire car during a vehicle inspection at Kumali Excise Checkpost. The three-member group tried to smuggle ganja by making the woman sit in the front seat of the car in a way that made it look like a family trip. It is believed that they did this under the conception that checking can be avoided if women are with them. The arrested are Tito Santhana (26), Haleel (40) and Mithula Raj (26), residents of Thiruvananthapuram.

Excise Inspector George Joseph, preventive officers Satheesh Kumar D and Josie Varghese, Civil Excise Officer Arun VS and Women Civil Excise Officer Stella Oommen took up the case.

Excise also caught a ganja seller from Palakkad's Puthupallitheru. 22-year-old Jamsheer, a native of Puthupallitheru, was arrested by Range Inspector K Nishanth and his team. 1.1 kg ganja was also seized. The accused is retailing ganja in small packets among the youth including students in Palakkad town areas.

Assistant Excise Inspector Y Syed Mohammad, preventive officers Praveen K Venugopal, Devakumar V, PU Raju, Civil Excise Officers K Haridas, A Madhu, Rajeev S, WCEO Seenath and driver Sunny were part of the team.