District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force (Dansaf) officers arrested Arun Prakash, 42, near Kallambalam on Sunday while he was transporting over 10 kilograms of ganja hidden inside two large travel bags on his two-wheeler. Prakash, a native of Thannikuzhi in Balaramapuram, was en route to Thiruvananthapuram from Andhra Pradesh when the seizure took place near the Thattupalam area of Kallambalam.
This operation was the result of days of surveillance and a timely tip-off that enabled the Dansaf team to track and stop Prakash’s vehicle in a high-risk operation. Police sources revealed that Arun Prakash is a habitual drug offender with a criminal history; he previously served four and a half years in Visakhapatnam Central Jail for drug trafficking. After completing his sentence in Andhra Pradesh, he was arrested again in Kerala for a similar offence
The recent arrest occurred shortly after his release and forms part of ‘Operation D-Hunt,’ a district-wide crackdown on drug trafficking led by rural district police chief Sudarshan. Authorities suspect Prakash may be part of a larger interstate smuggling network and are currently interrogating him to uncover details about the source and intended recipients of the confiscated contraband.
Arun Prakash has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days as the investigation continues.
