KOCHI: Operating under disguise, excise sleuths on Friday seized 34 grams of heroin from two persons hailing from Assam and West Bengal.
According to officials, the accused, Shariful Islam, 25, a native of Assam and Ganesh Pramanik, 25, native of West Bengal, were nabbed a few minutes before the illegal deal that could have happened near GIDA building in Ernakulam – Chathiyath road on Friday morning.
The shadow team of the excise special squad found a young person, who was earlier convicted in a narcotic case, wearing a blue jacket at ‘Pancharamukk’ near the GIDA building in the morning. The sleuths questioned him and it was revealed that he was waiting for the smuggled contraband for which he had transferred money online. The sleuths immediately replaced the man with one of the officials from the team wearing the same blue jacket, which was the dress code demanded by the seller to identify the customer.
A few minutes later, the duo reached there and while trying to handover the item to the official in blue jacket, the team led by excise inspector P. Sreeraj who were hiding near the the place rushed to the spot and arrested them.
The accused used to sell the item so as to travel home by flight and to lead a luxurious life. “Flight tickets and bills from star-hotels were seized from their possession,” an official said.
