Edited by Deepali Verma
A major smuggling racket carrying methamphetamine was busted in a joint operation conducted by Narcotics Control Bureaus (NCB) of Chennai, Bengaluru, and Imphal on December 28. An arrest of eight people was made and 15.8 kg of the drug was seized during the operation.
On December 21, 4.8 kg of meth was seized by the Chennai Zone NCB and it additionally led to the arrest of four people. Initial inquiries found out that the gang had smuggled drugs from Moreh in Manipur. After this reveal, a joint team was formed under the supervision of the Zonal Director, Chennai and officers from NCBs in Chennai and Bengaluru were sent to Imphal, where they conducted surveillance for a total of three days.
The NCB officers in Imphal made an arrest of the financier who handled hawala transactions and recovered Rs 10 lakh cash. The investigators learnt that the contraband was brought to Moreh from Tamu in Myanmar. The smugglers brought the drugs to Sri Lanka in fake tea packets via Imphal, Guwahati and Chennai. The suspects arrested in Chennai went by names such as Selvam (45), Chinthamani (33), Joseph Justin Paul (36) and Saravanan (55), while those apprehended in Moreh were Roshan Kumar (23), Kalaimani (33), Reena (30) and Ravi Devar (42).
