Three Maldivians linked to a Hong Kong-based international drug cartel were arrested in Kochi City along with a fourth man.[1] The Maldivians were Shifan Ibrahim, 30, Azim Habeeb, 33, and Mohamed Safoof, 34, and with them police arrested Anthony Sami, 30, a Tamil Nadu native.[1] Officers arrested the four in a hotel parking ground as they were about to leave for the airport.[1] Four Maldivian media described the suspects as mafia members, and Kochi police said they belonged to a Hong Kong drug-smuggling network called Kona Gold that uses Indian ports.[1]

The hashish oil, a thick liquid extracted from cannabis, was hidden in shampoo bottles.[1] Police put the haul at 1.5 litres of hashish oil worth about US$246,500.[1] Deputy commissioner of Kochi City police J Himendranath said the accused planned to smuggle the contraband, brought from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, to the Maldives via Nedumbassery airport.[1] The four were on the wanted list of the Narcotics Control Bureau.[1] Himendranath said their passports showed multiple trips between the Maldives, Thailand, Singapore and India in December alone.[1]

The article reports a separate case in which three Hong Kong residents were arrested last month trying to smuggle 7 kg of cocaine from the Maldives to the city.[1] The new interim Maldives police chief said 130 kg of drugs had been seized in the country over the past three years, a figure covering all drugs rather than cannabis alone.[1]