A notorious drug dealer, who escaped from the custody of Kerala excise department sleuths in Bengaluru last month, has been arrested from Malappuram district, officials said on Tuesday.
On being cornered at his second wife's residence at Nilambur in Malappuram district on Monday night, the drug dealer, George Kutty, allegedly fired shots from a pistol at the members of the special excise squad, injuring one of the personnel, they said.
He was subsequently taken into custody.
Excise range inspector Manoj suffered a bullet injury on his leg and was hospitalised, the officials said.
Talking to reporters in Kochi, state Excise Minister T P Ramakrishnan hailed the officials for nabbing the accused.
He also announced a cash reward for the sleuths and said the government would bear the treatment expense of the injured officer.
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A hunt was on to arrest Kutty, the key accused in a narcotics case who had escaped from the custody of Excise department sleuths in Bengaluru, where he was taken as part of collecting evidence.
Kutty was arrested on June 23 by the special excise squad and 20 kg of hashish oil worth Rs 20 crore and 2.5 kg of ganja were seized from his car at the NH 66 bypass in Thiruvananthapuram.
The accused, hailing from Ettumanoor in Kottayam district, was a history-sheeter, the officials said.