On April 7, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) revealed that it has seized a huge cache of cash, gold, and drugs, and had arrested one person in connection to the Indo-Sri Lankan illegal drugs, arms trade and hawala racket case aimed at the revival of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The NIA conducted searches on residential and business premises in Chennai belonging to eight suspects in the case, wherein it seized a huge cache of cash, gold bars, digital devices (mobile phones, memory cards), drugs and documents, along with other incriminating material. The agency has also arrested one person during the raids. He has been identified as Ayyappan Nandhu. This took the number of total arrests in the Tamil Nadu case to 14.
As per NIA, Ayyappan Nandhu has been found to be managing the drug trade on behalf of Muhammed Asmin, a Sri Lankan refugee and a drug trafficker who had conspired with other accused to revive LTTE through drugs and arms trade.
The NIA arrested the other 13 people earlier in December 2022 as part of the raids conducted in 21 locations in Tamil Nadu, following NIA registering the case in July 2022. The earlier raids had included the accommodation allotted to nine accused in Special Detention Camp, Trichy. “Investigations into the case have shown that the proceeds of drugs and arms trade in Sri Lanka were received in India through Hawala agents, including one Shahid Ali of Chennai,” said the NIA.
Furthermore, the NIA found that the Hawala transactions made to obtain the process of the Drugs and Arms trade were done through hotels and businesses based in Mannadi, Chennai. The NIA seizure on April 6 includes Rs 68 lakhs in Indian currency, 1,000 Singapore dollars, and nine Gold Biscuits (total of 300 grams) from the shop of Shahid Ali. The NIA has also recovered Rs 12 Lakhs in Indian currency from the Hotel – Orange Palace in Chennai.
