Small-time drug pushers ride mule accounts as Kochi police tighten the leash

KOCHI: Street-level drug peddlers in Kochi and other parts of the district are increasingly adopting mule bank accounts — a tactic once largely associated with cyber fraudsters and major narcotics syndicates — as police intensify their financial investigations into drug cases.

Investigators told TNIE the shift — where accused allegedly route online payments through the bank accounts of friends, acquaintances and trusted associates — has become evident following several recent arrests. Police say the modus operandi gathered pace after investigators began routinely scrutinising bank transactions and digital-payment and call-detail records of those arrested in narcotics cases.