Members of the Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT) from the South Division arrived on the public beach at Poste Lafayette late on Monday afternoon (11 September) and unearthed two parcels containing cocaine. The team then travelled to Ferney, where two other parcels were discovered in a bush. They weighed 7.8 kilos, while the market value of the drug is estimated at Rs 102 million. In the wake of this discovery, Superintendent of Police Heman Dass Goorah’s men made four arrests, including two women. Mohammad Hussein Abdool Rahim, one of the two men arrested in this case, is known to the police. He was the whistleblower who brought down former Attorney General Ravi Yerrigadoo in the Bet 361 case.
Based on information obtained by these MCIT officers from the South Division, a raid was carried out on the public beach at Poste Lafayette. Searches were carried out until a search revealed two plots of land that had escaped under the sword. A suspect who had been at the site was apprehended. The suspect, Mohammad Hussein Abdool Rahim, a 38-year-old entrepreneur from rue Edgar Laurent, Port-Louis, was arrested.
Rahim, who was subjected to close questioning, incriminated Haidar Ruttun, 38, of Caro Lalo, Vallée des Prêtres, as the person who had given him the drugs. The police then went to a bush in Ferney, where the resident of rue Edgar Laurent pointed out the other cache of drugs.
When arrested, Haidar Ruttun incriminated Adila Salaroo, aged 42, as the person from whom he had obtained the drugs. A search of the woman’s home enabled MCIT-Sud to seize a sum of Rs 950,000. This money is suspected to have come from the sale of these drugs. The woman’s husband, who was arrested, was subsequently released. Another resident of Vallée des Prêtres, Shazia Oozeerally, 33, was arrested in connection with this case and the sum of Rs 50,000 was discovered at her home. The police suspect that this money came from the proceeds of drug sales.
The four suspects were brought before the Port-Louis court on the morning of Tuesday 12 September. They are facing a provisional charge of drug trafficking. As the police objected to their conditional release, they were returned to custody.
