State: Transit Hot Spot for Heroin Trade

Kerala is a State of paradoxes. Despite being the most educated State, it tops the list in liquor intake, sex rackets, child abuse, family suicides, road accident deaths and divorces. Reportedly, different airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Malappuram which are in Muslim dominated districts of Kerala have become the transit hot-spots for heroin smuggling to Gulf countries. This has been confirmed with several seizure of heroin worth Rs 10 crore and arrest of a MP resident Mohammed Muslim.

According to Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) sources, with a huge Keralite population in the Gulf, it is easy to find carriers. Earlier pro-Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam (LTTE) elements in Chennai used to handle this, but now their base has been shifted to Kerala. Women, especially job seekers in the Gulf are preferred carriers. Visa, air tickets and high remuneration are the baits. Heroin cultivated in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan reach Delhi, where drug syndicates from Kerala buy it. Hidden in specially made pouches in baggage and wrapped in carbon paper, they are undetectable by airport scanners.
NCB sources say that the heroin seized is only a tip of the iceberg and smuggling is going on in full swing.
With political support both from Left and Right, gold smuggling is also going on in full swing. Almost every day kilos of gold is seized from the major airports of Kerala. Fayaz, the gold smuggling kingpin arrested in Karippur, met Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPM) leader Mohanan Master who was in jail of Kannur for the brutal and savage murder of CPM rebel TP Chandrasekharan endorsing the CPM link with gold mafia.
Even snakes are not left alone. The Red Sand Boa, the non-poisonous snake, with heads at both ends is known for its medicinal values and bring good luck. It is in great demand in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Hundreds of such snakes are caught from Kerala and Tamil Nadu forests and smuggled to these countries. This business is worth crores. Red sandalwood, also having medicinal properties is also cut from Kerala and Tamil Nadu forests and smuggled to various countries. If this trend continues, Kerala devoid of trees, lakes, rivers, flora and fauna will leave a dry desert for the next generation.
—S Chandrasekhar from Thiruvananthapuram