Courtesy Hindustan Times

Among the charge-sheeted persons are C Gunashekharaan alias Guna and Pushparajah alias Pookutti Kanna, Sri Lankan nationals who run a drug syndicate in the island nation and work closely with Pakistani drugs and arms supplier Haji Salim, the NIA said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against 13 persons, including Lankan nationals, in its probe into the India-Sri Lanka illegal drugs and arms trade case relating to attempts to revive the activities of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in both countries, the agency said on Friday.

Among the charge-sheeted persons are C Gunashekharaan alias Guna and Pushparajah alias Pookutti Kanna, Sri Lankan nationals who run a drug syndicate in the island nation and work closely with Pakistani drugs and arms supplier Haji Salim.

Salim, as reported by HT on April 30, works with the Pakistani spy agency ISI and handles almost the entire maritime smuggling of drugs and arms to India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and other nearby countries.

The agency said that the charge sheet was filed on Thursday against three Indians and 10 Sri Lankan nationals as they conspired with each other to exploit the illegal drugs trade in India and Sri Lanka for funding, amassing and stashing weapons for the revival of LTTE in India and Sri Lanka.

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,” said an NIA statement.

Investigations in the case had exposed their conspiracy to fund the revival of LTTE through the drug trade. They were arrested (last year) at the Trichy Special Camp. Investigations had further revealed that the accused were using the proceeds of crime to live a lavish life. Several mobile phones with pre-activated Indian SIM cards were seized from them. NIA also seized various digital devices, documents relating to drug transactions, cash to the tune of ₹80 lakh and nine gold bars 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. Several transactions using Crypto platforms were also unearthed between the accused,” the statement added.

Three Indians named in the charge sheet are Selvakumar M, Vigneshwara Perumal and Iyyapan Nandhu.

Besides Guna and Kanna, eight Sri Lankans named include Mohammad Asmin, Alahapperumaga Sunil Ghamini Fonseka, Stanly Kennady Fernando, Dhanukka Roshan, Ladiya, Vella Suranga, Thilipan and Danarathnam Nilukshan.

While Vicky and Nandhu were arrested in April this year, the others were arrested in December 2022.

The federal agency is probing at least four cases related to conspiracy to revive the activities of LTTE.

In October 2021, a former intelligence officer of LTTE – Satkunam alias Sabesan was arrested in a probe into the seizure of five AK47 rifles, thousands of rounds of 9 mm ammunition and 300 kg of heroin from the fishing vessel Ravihansi, which was intercepted by the Coast Guard off the coast of Minicoy in Lakshwadeep on March 18, 2021.