Kundapur: Heroin worth Rs 2 crore seized in hotel, three arrested

Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur

Kundapur, Apr 18: In a major operation, the excise department officials on Thursday April 18 raided a popular hotel at Hemmadi here and seized heroin worth Rs 2 crore. Three persons were arrested in this regard.

Two of the arrested are Divakar Devadiga (39) of Shirali, Bhatkal, and Sudhir Hegde (29), a resident of Kharvi Madhyakeri, Kundapur. The third arrested is a man from Belgaum, it is learnt.

Based on reliable information received on Thursday morning, the team led by deputy commissioner of district excise department George Pinto raided a hotel in Hemmadi and seized one kg of heroin approximately worth Rs 2 crore. They also confiscated three mobile phones from the accused, apart from taking them into custody.

Initial investigations have revealed that a Mangalore-based man had brought the heroine from Bangalore to Mangalore and supplied them to Divakar and Sudhir, who in turn had brought the heroin to the hotel at Hemmadi with an intention to pass it on to the man from Belgaum.

The identity of the Belgaum-based man is not yet known.

Though the raid was carried out in the morning, the excise police kept the entire operation under wraps till evening. After registering a case, the accused were confined in the hotel room itself and interrogated. Investigations are on to catch the kingpin.

Kundapur excise circle inspector A P Shankar Poojary, sub-inspector Shubhada, Kundapur tahsildar Thippeswamy, revenue officer Shankar Shetty, Hemmadi village accountant Kantaraju, Tallur village accountant Raghavendra, and taluk official Rangaraju took part in the raid.