Excise officials seized nearly 1,200kg of banned tobacco and pan masala products during an enforcement operation in Neyyattinkara on Saturday. The raid was carried out as part of Operation Thunder, the Excise department’s anti-drug enforcement drive, on the basis of a tip-off received by excise officers of the Neyyattinkara Excise range office.

The initial seizure was made near the premises of a school at Punnamoodu, where officers recovered a certain quantity of pan masala products. A suspect, identified as Shaiju, a native of Thettivila, was subsequently taken into custody. During further investigation, the sleuths found that the accused had rented a house in Thettivila, which was allegedly being used as a warehouse to store the prohibited tobacco products. A search led to the recovery of nearly 1,200 kg tobacco products.

The excise officers suspect that the accused is a key member of a network involved in supplying banned tobacco products to school and college students, as well as migrant worker camps. The contraband is suspected to have been transported into Kerala from other States through trains and couriers.

Published - July 12, 2026 07:17 pm IST