Kochi: Ernakulam rural police on Thursday arrested a key operative behind the racket smuggling heroin into the district. Police said the accused, Shafiqul Islam, 38, of Nagaon in Assam, is known as ‘dada’ among drug dealers. Police seized hundreds of small bottles used for filling drugs in two sacks from his rented house in Ponjassery area of Perumbavoor.Police said he has been in Kerala for about 10 years. The man initially worked in several plywood companies and later turned to scrap business. Subsequently, he shifted to drug trade.According to police, he was leading a luxurious lifestyle and used to travel between Assam and Kochi by air. “A box of heroin brought from Assam for Rs 30,000 was sold here for a price ranging from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh rupees by his racket. In addition, it was filled in small bottles and sold at a rate of Rs 1,000 per bottle. Perumbavoor was his main area of operation,” said an officer.“He rented houses in various places in the district. Houses were chosen in areas that did not catch attention of police and public.” said the officer.Police said transactions worth lakhs have taken place through accounts of this man, who was running the drug trade under the guise of scrap business. He was caught by a special investigation team led by district police chief K S Sudarshan.Earlier, police arrested three other migrant workers with 609g of heroin worth lakhs in Angamaly. Islam was arrested based on information obtained during a detailed investigation of this case.Perumbavoor ASP Hardik Meena, Aluva DSP N Babukuttan, Nedumbassery inspector B K Arun led the investigation team. SIs K P Viju, Jishnu Raju, ASI P A Abdul Manaf, senior CPOs T A Afsal, Benny Isaac, Ajitha Thilakan and Robin Joy were also part of investigation team. The arrest was made as part of Operation Toofan.
