KOCHI: Excise sleuths in the city arrested a 24-year-old man on charges of possession and sale of ganja on Saturday. The accused was identified as Ajmal alias Machu, a resident of Vathuruthy. Excise seized 4.43kg of ganja from the accused who was arrested near
Thoppumpady
BOT Bridge around 11am by a team led by
Kochi
excise circle inspector T K Sasi Kumar.
According to excise officials, Ajmal is a
history-sheeter
who is accused in around 24 police cases, including 14 NDPS cases. "The accused brought the ganja from Derakonda in
Odisha. He peddled the ganja bundles by tying them to his body and covered it with jackets to avoid checking at railway stations. This way he has smuggled up to 10kg in one go. He sold the ganja to suppliers at Rs 3,000 per kilogram," said an official.
Excise officials said the accused was one of the main suppliers of ganja to the inmates of various prisons in the state. "His main business was supplying ganja to prison inmates. The accused, who was imprisoned in various central prisons in the state, was aware of the routines of prisoners who were brought outside the jails for work. During this time, he supplies ganja in small bundles. We are yet to know how he received money from prisoners. We have launched a probe," said Kumar.
Ajmal has been absconding for the past one year after the excise launched a hunt for him. "We have been looking for him over the past few months but he stayed at various parts of the state to sell ganja. Recently, his accomplice one Sreeraj alias Bombay Kannan was arrested by our team in a ganja case. We received information from him that Ajmal will be coming to Kochi. Based on that we planned the operation to nab him red-handed," Kumar added.
A case has been registered against the accused under various sections of NDPS Act. He was produced in the court and was remanded in judicial custody.
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