KOCHI: The ganja found in the school bag of a high school student by his mother finally led to the arrest of a major drug peddler in Kochi city on Tuesday.
The Ernakulam excise special squad tracked the source of ganja after questioning the student who was brought to the Vimukthi counselling centre at the excise zonal office here.
The accused Azad, 34, of Kuttamasserry at Aluva west, was arrested with 2.25 kilogram of ganja from near Aluva Metro station.
The student’s mother told the excise officers that he had been showing a strange behaviour for a few days. On suspicion, she checked his bag and found some quantity of ganja wrapped in a paper. Following this, he was brought to the Vimukthi centre.
According to excise special squad inspector P. Sreeraj, Azad used to give ganja to the student.
“For getting the boy on his track, he used to give small amounts of ganja for free at first and told him how to use it. Later, the culprit demanded money from him and the boy managed to collect it from his parents,” Mr Sreeraj said.
“From the boy’s statements, we tracked the middleman who once approached him as directed by Azad. Through him, we contacted Azad and asked him to come with the contraband near Aluva Metro station.”
The information was provided to the special squad by the top narcotic secret group led by inspector B. Suresh.
The officials said that the accused had left his job in Saudi Arabia to try his luck in ganja business.
His customer list includes adults and school children and his trade was mainly focused on schools and colleges in the district.
The excise team which made the arrest comprised Mr Sreeraj, preventive officer K.R. Ramprasad and civil excise officers M.M. Arunkumar, Sidharth Kumar and Vipindas.
