Islands in Palk Straits emerge as transit points for smuggling

CHENNAI: The continuing seizure of narcotic and psychotropic drugs from different parts of Ramanathapuram district and the arrest of 13 people in this connection in the last three weeks have blown the lid off a racket that was involved in drug smuggling for years.
They were an integral part of the drug traffickers who were transporting the contraband from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Sri Lanka via India.Following the leads generated from those arrested in May, Ramanathapuram police on Friday seized amphetamine, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, lion’s teeth and deer antlers, totally valued at Rs 1 crore.
Ever since the fall of the LTTE in 2009, many drug smugglers in Ramanathapuram had turned active, said an intelligence officer. Under the guise of fishing, they used to smuggle drugs across the Palk Straits.
Smugglers, who had tried their luck at the air route during the ethnic strife in Lanka, shifted to sea route because the Palk Straits is porous in abundant measure and evading the watchful eyes of the Coast Guard and Indian Navy is not impossible, going by their experience. Many transport in mechanised country boats, the officer said.
There are 21 islands along the Indo-Sri Lankan maritime border. Two of them have sunk. Four fall under the territory of Tuticorin district and 15 come under Ramanathapuram district. These islands are emerging as transit points and hideout for smugglers. The smugglers in Ramanathapuram give contraband and take gold in return from Lankan smugglers.
Ramanathapuram SP Varun Kumar and team seized close to 189 sovereigns of gold ornaments and huge quantity of explosives from Manoli island in a raid conducted in December. Following the raids, in a dispute among the smugglers, kingpin of the racket, Kumar, a fisheries department contractor, was murdered. His body was burnt and buried.
While one kg of ganja costs Rs 15,000 in India, it is sold at Rs 60,000 (INR) in Sri Lanka. The boatman, who smuggles the contraband, is paid Rs 30,000 per trip.
After the seizure of Rs 5 crore worth narcotics by Ramanathapuram police in May this year, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa formed a task force to address the narcotics trade happening through Sri Lanka.
Much of the contraband goes from Sri Lanka to Fiji, the Maldives, Mauritius, Australia and New Zealand. The investigation of the May seizure was transferred to NIB CID on the orders of DGP J K Tripathy. However, the Ramanathapuram police pursued the leads and effected further seizure in June. Varun Kumar said much of the information about drugs racket is received in the helpline number 9489919722, which has become popular in the district.
The smugglers use code words for all contraband. Opium paste is known as shikakai, the herbal paste used for washing hair. Methamphetamine is codenamed as ice and amphetamine is known by the moniker urea. All communications are done in person and there is hardly any use of telephones and mobile phones.
What has got exposed is only the tip of the ice berg. All central agencies like RAW, IB, NCB, Coast Guard and Indian Navy and state agencies like NIB and Q Branch and the Sri Lankan narcotics task force are pursuing the leads.