Mangaluru: The Mangaluru CCB police have arrested three men and seized 1.79 kg of MDMA, valued at about Rs 1.58 crore, while allegedly attempting to smuggle the drug into the city by concealing it inside a water purifier.
The police seized 1,796.96 grams of MDMA during an operation near DMart at Kumpala in Ullal taluk around 10 pm on Thursday.
According to City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy the arrested men have been identified as Abdul Hafeel (25), a native of Kasaragod district in Kerala, Zia-ul-Haq (30), a resident of Kasaba Bengre in Mangaluru and Altaf (28), who lives in Pandeshwar in the city.
The accused had allegedly procured MDMA from Amritsar in Punjab and concealed the drug securely inside the water-storage compartment of a water purifier.
They then allegedly sent the consignment to Mangaluru through a courier service. The plan was to distribute and sell the drug in various parts of Mangaluru city and Kerala, the police statement said.
The CCB police acted on specific information about the sale of MDMA in the city and intercepted the alleged consignment before it could be distributed.
According to the police Hafeel had previously been booked in a drug consumption case at the Ullal police station. Zia-ul-Haq had allegedly been involved in a drug-selling case in Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, where he served a three-year prison sentence before returning to India. Altaf had also faced a drug consumption case at the Pandeshwar police station.
A case has been registered at the Ullal police station. Further investigation is in progress.
The accused will be questioned and produced before the court.
Three mobile phones, a Maruti Suzuki Swift car, an autorickshaw, a cardboard courier box and a water purifier were also seized.
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