How Tamil Nadu became a paradise for Pakistan drug cartels to send drugs to Sri-Lanka

New Delhi, Dec 26: The nabbing of Khader Mohideen and Ibrahim Saha, two international drug smugglers in Hyderabad has only shown the extent of the problem yet again.

While they were nabbed in Hyderabad, the police said that they are resident of Chennai and this once again puts the focus back on the drug menace which has been emanating from Sri Lanka. It has been found on multiple occasions, that the drug cartel operating in Sri Lanka is controlled by Pakistan.

In November, the Tamil Nadu coastal police arrested a DMK councillor and a former councillor of the same party for attempting to smuggle cocaine worth Rs 360 crore from the Ramnathpuram district. In this case, the investigations found that former DMK councillor, Jainuddin and current councillor of the 19th ward of Rameshwaram, Sarbaz Nawaz had intended to transport the cocaine to Sri Lanka.

The couriers from 2006:

The above mentioned incidents are not surprising, because this racket has been on for long. In the year 2006, 18,600 Tamil refugees arrived in Rameshwaram Tamil Nadu. All of them were sent to special camps as the agencies doubted that they were linked to the LTTE. The probe also revealed that many of them were drug couriers. In the name of medicines and aid came the drugs, an official tells OneIndia.

These incidents were quite high when the LTTE existed. However since the fall there was a lull and today there is not a single day that passes by when an incident of drug smuggling on the Sri Lanka-Tamil Nadu route is not reported. There has been a spike in the smuggling of ephedrine and cocaine. There has also been a 26 per cent rise in the number of smuggling incidents concerning amphetamine. While these are some of the common drugs being smuggled on this route, there are also many incidents of heroine smuggling as well. The official cited above said that the drug cartels are also smuggling ketamine, pseudoephedrine, LSD and cannabis.

TN has always been a transit point:

With the civil war in Tamil Nadu ending the drug cartels have gone up. While the demand for cocaine is higher in India, in the case of Sri Lanka it is heroine. The drug route has been a preferred one as the border is porus, an Intelligence Bureau official explains. The proximity between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka is also another reason why the route has become a paradise for drug cartels.

The international drug cartel has relied on the fishermen to be their couriers. These fishermen were also used by the LTTE who would source heroin from India and sell it in Sri Lanka. The proceeds were used to fund their activities. Following the fall of the LTTE the model has been replicated by the international drug cartels. The demand for heroin being very high in Sri Lanka has also led to these cartels using the Indian route to reach Sri Lanka.

There have been several probes into these incidents. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had found that the drugs are produced in Afghanistan and then smuggled to Pakistan following which it is dropped off in Punjab. From Punjab the drugs are loaded into inter-state trucks and then supplied to the rest of the country. Most of the grade 3 drugs make their way into Ramnathpuram as it is the closest sea link to Sri Lanka.