KUWAIT CITY: A key member of a gang that tried to smuggle ganja to Kuwait by hiding the consignment in a jar of pickle last year has landed in police custody. His arrest was recorded on Friday and the court remanded him in judicial custody, media told here the other day. Police identified the accused as Azeem (26) of Shaji Manzil, Vakkamvilakathu, Kanyakulangara near Vembayam under Vattappara police station limits. He had gone absconding following the arrest of his accomplices in November last year.
Police had earlier arrested three youths, two named Ashiq and one Anas, in connection with the case. They had tried to smuggle 50 g of ganja hiding it in a jar of pickle. Vattappara sub-inspector D S Indraraj said that Azeem was the king-pin as he was the one who purchased ganja and packed it neatly and stashed it inside the jar. The gang’s intention was to send it to their friend, Noufal, working in Kuwait. They aimed to deliver the package through another youth, Ansar of Vembayam, who flew to Kuwait last year.
The gang approached Ansar and asked him to deliver the pickle, which the latter readily agreed as it was a common practice for people to send homemade dishes to their relatives working abroad through other passengers. Fortunately for Ansar, he had to leave the jar behind along with some other parcels as his baggage exceeded permissible weight limit. Later, when Ansar’s relatives checked the jar, they found out the packet of ganja inside it, following which they handed it over to the police.
