KOCHI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has strengthened action to bring Mansoor Thachamparambil, the suspected mastermind behind shipping drugs worth Rs 1476 crore hidden in oranges, to India. They have sought the help of Interpol.

He left India for South Africa two weeks ago. He owns a company called More Fresh Exports in Johannesburg. It was through this company that the fruits were imported to Mumbai for Yammito Foods International Company, Kalady. Vijin Varghese, who was arrested in Mumbai, is the managing director of Yammito. Mansoor informed Vijin through a WhatsApp call to hand over the orange boxes containing drugs to Vivek. 198 kg of methamphetamine and 9 kg of cocaine were hidden in the boxes seized from the truck. It is also being checked whether he was importing goods for others in India.

The Excise inspected Yammito's cold storages at Thekkevazhakulam and Aroor but they found nothing suspicious.

Vijin Varghese’s house is an old two-bedroom concrete house in 7.5 cents at Amalapuram, Manjapra. The house has recently been painted for his brother’s wedding, other than that there are no signs of luxury. This is the home of MD of Yammito Foods who has a big office in Kalady and other offices in Mumbai, Dubai and South Africa. Vijin’s mother said that someone had cheated her son and asked to save him. She said that they didn’t have money for legal proceedings.