Kerala Police arrested Perumbavoor natives P.A. Abdul Salam and K.H. Muhammed Hussein on August 9 during a police checking on the Kasaragod–Kalikadavu National Highway. They were reportedly transporting 130 gm of MDMA drugs. P.A. Abbas was also arrested in this connection.
The arrest has now drawn attention after Janam Malayalam TV channel released details and visuals which suggest a close link between Keralam Chief Minister V.D. Satheeshan and the drug traffickers. The visuals show the CM with Perumbavoor natives P.A. Abdul Salam and K.H. Muhammed Hussein, who are involved in an MDMA case.
The drugs had been transported from Ernakulam to the local agents in Kasaragod. It was seized by DANSAF (District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force) and Chenthara Police.
Janam TV reports that both men were regular visitors to V.D. Satheeshan’s house in North Parur, Ernakulam district. They were not khadi-clad politicians, but still maintained a nice rapport with V.D. Satheeshan.
The channel claims there is evidence to prove that Satheeshan was on first-name terms with both. Visuals show Satheeshan walking with them hand in hand. Moreover, the accused have shared visuals of V.D. Satheeshan’s visit to Salam’s home. They have been posted as reels on social media.
Janam TV further states that Hussain’s Instagram profile claims that he is the “Satheeshan Team Social Team Media Coordinator”. The news came out that he handles the official pages of V.D. Satheeshan’s social media.
The channel accuses that both were office bearers of the Indian Youth Congress and that they had warm links with prominent Congress and UDF workers and leaders.
Janam TV says there are visuals of another minister Minister P.K. Kunjalikkutty walking hand in hand in the Assembly complex with both.
Kunjalikkutty is the senior-most leader of the Indian Union Muslim League. Other leaders having close links with both are Manoj Moothedan (MLA from Perumbavoor, Ernakulam district), Eldos Kunnappilly (former MLA), and Mohammed Shiaz (MLA from Kochi). Their pictures are also reportedly shared on social media.
Salam and Hussein reportedly visit foreign countries quite often. Police assume that both are links in the drug trafficking network. Their foreign visits and drug tracking are mysterious.
But the Congress leaders have come out with the usual answers that, at present, both Salam and Hussein do not hold any organisational responsibility. But the fact that they do enjoy close links with frontline leaders is a significant development and has therefore become controversial.
The Kasaragod arrests also come amid reports of an expanding MDMA trafficking network in Kerala. In a recent case, two Special Educators attached to the Perambra Block Resource Centre in Kozhikode were expelled from service after police found that their bank accounts were being used to route money linked to an MDMA network.
Police reportedly found that lakhs of rupees were transacted through the teachers’ bank accounts, with the accounts allegedly being used to collect money from drug buyers before the narcotics were delivered through courier services.
There have also been earlier cases involving political workers in Kerala in connection with drugs. In March 2025, Kerala Police reportedly busted a godown linked to a CPM member in Kollam district and seized drugs worth Rs 23 lakh. Police reportedly recovered 50 bags of banned drugs from the godown, which was being operated as part of a food company.
In another case reported around the same period, a CPM branch secretary in Alappuzha and former SFI area committee member was arrested with MDMA. Police reportedly recovered MDMA and syringes from him.
In the latest Kasaragod case, the reported links of the arrested men in MDMA trafficking network with senior Congress and UDF leaders, as highlighted by Janam TV, show undeniable connections between top politicians and drug traffickers.
