TN police on alert over smuggling of drugs by former LTTE sympathisers

Chennai, May 20 The Tamil Nadu police has been put on high alert after intelligence agencies warned of possibility of drugs being smuggled into the state.

As per inputs from central agencies, a few former operatives of the banned Tamil nationalist organisation, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is trying to regroup and is focusing on Tamil Nadu as the base area.

It may be recalled that a former senior intelligence operative of the LTTE, Satkunam alias Sabesan, was arrested in October 2021 for trying to smuggle in drugs worth Rs 3,000 crore and five AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition using an international drug network.

The police had found that he transferred money to the accounts of certain people in Sri Lanka who were former sympathisers and activists of the LTTE.

A week ago, drugs worth Rs 25,000 crore was seized in Kochi in which a Pakistan national was nabbed by police. The notorious Haji Ali network of Pakistan was involved in the smuggling of drugs.

Tamil Nadu police have deployed additional police force at all the checkposts along the border with Kerala besides accelerating vigil along the coastal areas of the state.

The state police have also intensified vigil across coastal districts with special emphasis on Ramanathapuram.