NIA chargesheets 13 in India-Sri Lanka drugs, arms trade for LTTE revival case

New Delhi[India], June 16 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against 13 persons, including three Indian and 10 Lankan nationals, in the India-Sri Lanka illegal drugs and arms trade case relating to attempts to revive the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organization which once sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

The chargesheeted men had conspired with the accused in the Vizhinjam Arms case for exploiting 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 NIA 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," said the anti-terror agency.

Investigations in the case had exposed their conspiracy to fund the revival of LTTE through the drug trade. The accused were chargesheeted on Thursday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Those chargesheeted include three Indians, Selvakumar M, Vigneshwara Perumal alias Vicky and Iyyapan Nandhu alias Ayyappan Nandhu.

The remaining 10 are Sri Lankans, identified as 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.

The NIA had filed the case suo moto on July 8 last year and arrested 13 persons. Vicky and Nandhu were arrested in April this year while others were arrested in December 2022.

They were arrested at the Trichy Special Camp. Investigations had further revealed that the accused were using the proceeds of crime to live a lavish life, said the NIA.

Several mobile phones with pre-activated Indian SIM cards were seized from them. The NIA also took various digital devices, documents relating to drug transactions, cash to the tune of Rs 80 lakh and nine gold bars during the course of 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.