PERINTHALMANNA: Kannur natives Harshad (25) and Mohammed Rahil (20) were arrested with 155 kg of cannabis hidden in the secret compartment of a Bolero pickup container that brought fish. They were arrested during a police inspection conducted on Perinthalmanna-Ponniakurussi Bypass Road. The cannabis was stacked in large packets in the secret compartment.

The police had received secret information about gangs who smuggled large quantities of cannabis to Kerala by hiding it in containers and vehicles that brought fish from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Andhra Police checked the vehicle at Vijayawada but they did not find the secret compartment inside the container. Since the container has stale fish inside, the smell of cannabis does not come out. An investigation conducted by secretly monitoring the people linked to the drug trafficking gang resulted in the arrest of the main links.

The gang that was arrested brings large quantities of cannabis to Kasaragod and Kannur through agents on a commission basis and then stores them in secret centres and does distribution as per need. Perinthalmanna DYSP M. Santhosh Kumar, Inspector C Alavi, SI Muhammad Yasir, district anti-narcotics squad and Perinthalmanna police jointly arrested the accused.