4 held with 200g MDMA

T'puram: Excise enforcement and anti-narcotics special squad on Tuesday arrested four persons in two separate locations in the district and seized nearly 200g of MDMA. A vehicle allegedly used for drug trafficking was also taken into custody.The first arrest was made on Monday in the Thirumala area, where excise officials intercepted a vehicle carrying MDMA. The accused were identified as Sourav Santhosh (22) of Malayinkeezhu and Sanuj (22) from Vazhiyila. Acting on a tip-off, the squad stopped the vehicle and recovered the synthetic drug believed to have been brought for distribution. In a second operation conducted on Tuesday at Mottamoodu, the squad arrested Anu (25) and Ranjith (31), both of Naruvamoodu, with commercial quantities of MDMA. Preliminary probe revealed that the accused allegedly sourced the drug from Bengaluru and were selling it through a local distribution network targeting youngsters and habitual users.The raids were led by excise circle inspector Arun Ashok and excise inspector Nishad. TNN