The Erode North police on 25 April 2026 registered a case against two persons after two youths from the district were arrested in the Maldives for allegedly carrying 6.7 kg of hashish oil.[1] The arrested youths, aged 19 and 21, were identified as Dhanushkandan Gopal and Kathirvil Manimaran, both Indian nationals.[2] Maldives Customs officers found the hashish oil in bottles in their luggage at Velana International Airport, and forensic tests confirmed it.[2] A Maldives court remanded the two youths in custody for six days after they appeared in court.[2]

According to the police, a 38-year-old woman from Manickampalayam complained that her 19-year-old son and his 21-year-old friend were taken to Bengaluru on 1 March by Kishorekumar of Periyavalasu and Afrutheen of Tiruppur on the promise of a free trip to the Maldives.[1] Kishorekumar is said to run an organisation named Metawhale, a multi-level marketing firm.[1] The complainant alleged that at their Bengaluru hotel an unidentified person visited the youths around 8 p.m. on 2 March and handed them six bottles labelled as shampoo, saying the two accused had sent them to be collected in the Maldives.[1] The youths carried the bottles to the Maldives, where authorities found the hashish oil during a check at the airport on 3 March and arrested and remanded them to prison there.[1]

Police registered the case against the two accused under several sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, including section 20(b)(ii)(C) on cannabis, and said further investigation was under way.[1]