Kochi: When packets branded 'Chinese tea' washed ashore at different locations  of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the naive tribespeople never suspected it to be narcotic drugs worth crores of rupees. 

On September 21, 2019, the Coast Guard had seized 1,160 kg of narcotic drugs from a ship that had sailed out from Myanmar. When the smugglers realized that the ship would be seized, they threw overboard around 4,000 kg of packets containing drugs.

When these packets washed ashore at different islands, the drugs fell in the hands of unsuspecting islanders.

Many who consumed it thinking it was tea powder, soon became addicted to the drug. Some made a business out of it by selling the packets at low prices.

When the packets began making their way to Port Blair, the capital of the Union Territory, those hailing from the mainland of India recognized that they contained narcotic drugs. Some groups bought the packets at cheap rates and smuggled them to different States, including Kerala, through courier services and other methods.

Keralites among  smugglers

The Kerala excise came to know that these narcotic drugs were still stacked away in huge quantities in Andaman and Nicobar Islands after three persons were caught with the drugs at Manjeri on February 21, 2023.

Nishant (28), Sirajuddeen (28), and Riyaz (31) were the persons nabbed. 

They provided information about Mohammad Saabiq (25), the kingpin of the gang that smuggled in drugs through courier services. After it was learnt the drugs worth over Rs 50 crore were hidden in Car Nicobar Island, the Kerala excise and the Customs Preventive Wing reached the island. After the Andaman police and the Central Intelligence Bureau extended support, a major chunk of the drug haul was destroyed. The mission lasted five days.

The drugs were hidden in bunkers that were shaped like wells, on the premises of an unused government guest house at Malacca village in Car Nicobar. These are bunkers constructed by the Japanese army during the Second World War. Since the guest house was closed down after the tsunami of 2004 destroyed it completely, the authorities were not aware of the drugs hidden away in these bunkers.

The investigating team says that Malayalis are also among those who buy the narcotic drugs at cheap rates in the Andaman Islands and smuggle them into Kerala. The team that was led by the Kochi Customs Preventive Superintendent, V Vivek, and Kerala Excise Crime Branch Inspector, RN Byju, returned to Kerala after it presented an action plan at a meeting of village heads and authorities aimed at rehabilitating those who had become addicted to the drugs in the islands.