The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet on June 15 against thirteen individuals, including three Indian and ten Lankan nationals, in the India-Sri Lanka illegal drugs and arms trade case, which was related to the attempts to revive the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). LTTE is a militant organisation that once sought to establish an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. An NIA official confirmed the news of this charge sheet on June 16.
According to an NIA spokesperson, the accused have been charge sheeted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The agency has identified three Indians: Selvakumar M, Vigneshwara Perumal alias Vicky and Iyyapan Nandhu alias Ayyappan Nandhu.
The remaining ten people identified as Sri Lankan citizens by the NIA officials are C Gunasekaran alias Guna, Pushparajah alias Pookutti Kanna, Mohammad Asmin, Alahapperumaga Sunil Ghamini Fonseka, Stanly Kennady Fernando, Dhanukka Roshan, Ladiya alias Nalin Chathuranga, Vella Suranga alias Gamage Suranga Pradeep, Thilipan alias Dileepan and Danarathnam Nilukshan.
According to the NIA, the men included in the charge sheet had conspired with the suspects in the Vizhinjam Arms case to take advantage of the illegal drug trade in Sri Lanka and India to fund, gather, and store weapons for the resurgence of the LTTE in those countries.
The charge-sheeted Sri Lankan nationals C Gunashekharaan alias Guna and Pushparajah alias Pookutti Kanna controlled a drug syndicate in the island nation. They worked closely with Haji Salim, a supplier of drugs and weapons from Pakistan.
The agency said, “The drugs were being sourced from one Haji Salim, who is suspected to be residing in Pakistan. The accused persons had been using various foreign WhatsApp numbers to carry out the clandestine trade”.
Last year on July 8, the NIA filed the case suo moto and arrested thirteen persons. Vicky and Nandhu were arrested in April this year, while others were arrested in December 2022.
The NIA official stated, “Investigations in the case had exposed their conspiracy to fund the revival of LTTE through the drug trade. They were detained at the Trichy Special Camp (Tamil Nadu)”. NIA said, “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”.
The official revealed that the accused were using the proceeds of crime to live a lavish life. He added, “Several mobile phones with pre-activated Indian SIM cards were seized from them”.
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 also took various digital devices and documents relating to drug transactions. Around Rs 80 lakh and nine gold bars were recovered from the shop of Shahid Ali during the investigations. This cash and gold were proceeds from the sale of narcotics and were being channelled through hawala networks between Chennai and Sri Lanka. NIA unearthed several transactions using Crypto platforms between the accused.
