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Mumbai drug haul: Godown and house of accused searched in Kerala
DRI said smuggling drugs into the country in cartons of ‘Valencia Oranges’ imported from South Africa was new modus operandi of traffickers
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has raided the warehouse and house of two persons in Kochi and Malappuram districts of Kerala in connection with a major drug haul in Mumbai on Oct 1, people familiar with the matter said.
DRI has seized 198kg crystal methamphetamine and 9kg cocaine from a Navi Mumbai warehouse. The drugs had been concealed in boxes of oranges imported from South Africa . Crystal methamphetamine is a synthetic drug considered to be highly addictive.
After the seizure, DRI arrested managing director of Yumito International Food Private Limited, Vijin Varghese, a native of Kalady near Kochi, from Vashi (Mumbai) and was looking for T Mansoor, a native of Malappuram, who is reported to be in South Africa . DRI officials alleged they raided the warehouse of Yumito and seized some documents and questioned Vijin Varghese’s relatives.
They also raided the house T Mansoor in Malappuram. “A group of officials came to my house on Monday and told me about the seizure. I told them to check wherever they want and they searched till afternoon and did not take any material from here,” said Mansoor’s father T P Moyideen.
He said his son was into fruit import for more than a decade and never got into any trouble. He said Mansoor was in Kerala for two months and left the country two weeks back. Moyideen underlined that the consignments were sent from South Africa when he was not there. “We were told DRI officials are in touch with him. We feel he was trapped. Let truth come out and we are ready for any probe,” he said.
DRI reportedly checked the consignment after a tip off from international probe agencies.
