Kochi Office of Exchange, Ernakulam Chittoor Road, is the only post office system in Kerala to receive envelopes and parcels arriving by post from abroad. 112 envelopes which were found to be intoxicants are stored here. Some are not even cracked. Customs knows that these 112 envelopes that have arrived in two years contain drugs. But neither searching nor apprehending those waiting for the drug.
Many of those who had paid to do this from Europe and Africa left when the cargo was ‘blocked’. Now it is difficult to reach them.
The concerned official of the International Mail Center of the Kochi Office of Exchange inquired about how many suspicious envelopes were seized. The reply was that neither the number nor the details of the intercepted mails were kept.
By international mail
The Kochi Office of Exchange at Chittoor Road, Kochi is a one stop system for sending mail from abroad to Kerala. Here are three sections: 1. Foreign Post – Parcels come through. 2. International Mail Center – Registered and Ordinary Posts. 3. EMS – Mail and parcels arrive via Speed Post. Out of this, an average of 300 registered envelopes and 1500 ordinary envelopes arrive at the International Mail Center a day. It was in this group that the drug was hidden inside the envelope.
After the first case
Excise officials reached the Kochi Office of Exchange a few months ago following a tip-off. Excise cannot enter a place under the jurisdiction of Customs and file a case. But waited to know if the information is correct. Two addresses came to hand: one in Thiruvananthapuram and the second in Kozhikode. Excise netted at both the addresses. The LSD stamp came on the cover from the Netherlands. Both people were picked up. The sight seen in the Kozhikode man’s house was shocking.
Most of the drugs were there, including heroin and cocaine. Excise has arrested a man from Bengaluru after searching for the source of the drug seized from his house. He got the goods from Tanzania. Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode cases were registered as single excise cases. This was the first case of drug smuggling registered through the Kochi Office of Exchange. 6 more cases followed. All those caught are sellers. The previous 112 envelopes are still unopened.
Only ashes remain
The addresses of some of the 112 envelopes in the custody of Customs have been revealed. Excise also conducted unofficial inquiries at these addresses. No accused was arrested in any case. They were all drowned. Searched for an address and arrived at the house in Mundanveli, Kochi.
This was the address from which the 200 LSD stamp came. When he arrived, he got a handful of ashes! Ashes of purse, bag, mobile phone and bank documents were piled up behind the house and burnt. He burned all the evidence and left the country.
The move was made when the mail was delayed and some mails were seized in Kochi. The parents also pleaded guilty to knowing about their son’s dealings.
Drug trafficking, Quotation: Disgraced family
Aditya, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, accused in the first case through the Kochi Office of Exchange, is now in jail. Only 23 years old. Aditya’s house was crowded to know the family background. The address on the LSD-stamped envelope from the Netherlands was searched.
When I reached the post office, I found that this address is no longer occupied. When the mail arrives, Aditya’s father usually goes and receives it. He said that he did not know the new address. This address is just one kilometer away from the post office. Tenants have been living there for a year. No information about the jail is known except that the owner of the house has a son named Aditya and is not there.
He inquired where Aditya’s father lived. It was not like I knew from the post office, but the house three houses away was pointed out. On arrival the house is locked. Household items strewn across the screened porch. It is known that only father lives in this house and mother is abroad. When Aditya and his brother are in the country, they stay at their grandfather’s house some distance away. The address of the rented house was used on the suspicion that if the mail arrived at their own house, the people at home would open it.
It was when Aditya was arrested in the LSD mailing case that he was a wanted suspect in many cases. He was also involved in a case where he tried to endanger an excise officer by taking a citation. This was a citation issued by a ganja seller to vent his anger over the seizure of 60 kg of ganja from a farm house in Venjaramoot, Thiruvananthapuram. Aditya did not have a job after completing his diploma course.
He turned to other means, including quotations, for money to buy drugs. Due to his son’s actions, the family is in a situation where they cannot live with their heads high.
Address is correct; The difference of one letter in the name, who is behind?
One of the addresses to which the drug mail was sent from abroad was at Thangassery in Kollam Corporation. Investigation revealed that the Excise has not been contacted at this address.
In Thangassery, the house is up the alley from the main road. Everything is normal at home. It is understood that the family did not know that such mail had arrived at this address. The owner of the house recently died due to covid. Two sons. One works in a tech company. The second one is in an institution in Tamil Nadu. Both are at home. As the mother and some female relatives were in the house, the drunken mail went out without explanation.
The address on the postal envelope including father’s name and house number is completely correct, except one – addressee’s name. The names of the two youths are similar. Their name is different by only one letter in the address of Laharipatal.
Either ordered by one of them. Or, knowingly or unknowingly, some of their friends made an order using the address.
In either case, it is the excise that needs to be investigated and brought out. It was learned from the Excise headquarters that this address had been transferred to the Excise Office in Kollam months ago. So why not investigate?
Stumbling in the dark; Floating with intoxication
Argentina, Netherlands, Sudan, South Africa, Cuba, Poland, US, Australia… The addresses of those who sent drugs through Kochi are in all these countries. How do the youths of Kochi Mundanveli, Thiruvananthapuram Tirumala and Malappuram Areek do business with these foreign traders? The answer lies in the dark net.
Sites on the dark net will be hacked and linked to drug gangs. Once the trade is confirmed through the chats, the money is transferred via crypto currency or Bitcoin. Depend on foreign wallet companies for this. Once the order and payment are made, the liquor will be sent to the given address by post or courier service.
Sometimes it comes in the packaging of shoes, toys or sports equipment. In case of LSAD, it will be hidden inside the book in the form of a stamp. Few give their own address. The address of the nearby house or the address of any house under construction is given. But he will give his own phone number. On reaching the local post office or courier branch, the phone number will be contacted. Will go to office and buy. This is the method. The phone number will be left after a transaction.
The addressee sank tired of waiting
Addresses of 54 out of 112 intoxicated mails kept at the Office of Exchange in Kochi have been arranged. Thrissur district has received the highest number of intoxicating mails – 12. Kannur – 7, Wayanad – 2, Kozhikode – 9, Malappuram – 1, Palakkad – 9, Thrissur – 12, Ernakulam – 7, Kottayam – 3, Alappuzha – 1, Kollam – 1 and Thiruvananthapuram – 2 are the other districts. An attempt was made to find out who were hiding beyond these addresses.
Two posts are at the address in Thiruvananthapuram district. One is near a prominent girls’ high school in the city centre. Opposite the school, the road forks. A short walk along the road to the left is the house at the address. The house was given to young people to stay as paying guests. It was learned that the young man who lived here during the period when the post arrived had moved to Tamil Nadu.
The second address is that of a hostel in the city. Here too it has been months since the addressee has changed. No one knows where. It may have passed because the mail did not arrive after the calculated time limit.
Caught and rerouted
After being caught in Kochi, the route of drug mail from abroad to Kerala has been changed. It is now dependent on the Office of Exchange in Mumbai, which receives tens of thousands of mails daily. Any address in Maharashtra will be given for this. It can be a friend, acquaintance or relative.
Mail reaching Mumbai is sent to another address in Tamil Nadu or Karnataka for some reason. From there it comes to Kerala. Friendships are used or abused for this purpose. Recently, this root excise was convinced when 56 grams of MDMA was seized in Malappuram Tirur and 735 LSD stamps were seized in Areekode.
Both the mails came from abroad on Mumbai-Tamil Nadu-Kerala route. If this is caught before the mail reaches the person who paid for it, all those who helped send the mail will be caught. There are middlemen in Mumbai who buy liquor in large quantities by post and deliver it to sellers in Kerala.
(Tomorrow: Not One, Three Drug Syndicates in Pakistan)
English Summary: Editorial Series on Drugs distribution in Kerala-Part 2