Excise officials apprehended a youth during an alleged bid to smuggle nearly 40 gram of synthetic drug MDMA in the capital district on Tuesday.
The seizure of the narcotic substance in commercial quantity was made a few days after the Excise department foiled a bid to smuggle nearly 100 kg of ganja in the city.
A team led by Circle Inspector C.P. Praveen nabbed the accused, identified as Muhammed Shijas T., 22, of Palode, at the Amaravila excise check-post when he was travelling on a bus from Bengaluru. He was allegedly found to possess 39.589 grams of MDMA.
According to official sources, he had gone to Bengaluru four days ago after lying to his family that he was headed for Malappuram. During his stay in Bengaluru, he resided with a few Keralite students in Madiwala where he came into contact with a Kasaragod native, identified as Sreerag, who is believed to arrange admissions for MBBS and other course aspirants in colleges there.
The accused, who completed a course in Marine Engineering in Bengaluru, informed the investigators that Sreerag has been supplying drugs among Keralite students there.
The possession of MDMA in commercial quantity (over 10 g) could lead to a punishment of rigorous imprisonment of 10 to 20 years and a fine.
