New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau has arrested five people and seized more than 77 kg of cannabis oil while dismantling an international drug trafficking network operating across Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, officials said on Friday.
The agency’s Chennai and Hyderabad zonal units jointly conducted the operation after receiving intelligence information about a cross-border drug supply chain that transported smuggled goods from Nepal through India to Sri Lanka via sea routes.
The breach came on Tuesday, when officers from the Hyderabad district unit intercepted a Tata Safari Stormi near Raikal Toll Plaza on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad Expressway in Telangana, officials said. While searching the vehicle, police found 2 kg of Kara hidden inside specially manufactured cavities. Two people – one a resident of Delhi and the other from Uttar Pradesh – were arrested on charges of transporting smuggled goods.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the seized kara was part of a larger consignment of around 78 kg of cannabis oil smuggled into India from Kathmandu in Nepal via the Indo-Nepal Sunauli border. The bulk consignment of cannabis oil has already been delivered to Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu for smuggling into Sri Lanka via coastal waters,” a company spokesperson said.
Based on this direction, the Chennai district unit of the NBI launched an operation in Thoothukudi and seized around 78 kg of cannabis oil from three persons, including a Sri Lankan refugee, he added.
Two cars, a motorcycle, and a fishing boat used to transport smuggled materials were also seized.
Investigators said the smugglers planned to transport the drugs through coastal waters off Thoothukudi and deliver them in the middle of the sea to a Sri Lankan receiver using a fishing boat. With the assistance of the Indian Coast Guard, the NCB intercepted and seized the fishing boat suspected of being used for transportation at sea near the International Maritime Boundary Line, thus preventing a cross-border smuggling attempt.
“The NCB investigation has identified the involvement of a Sri Lankan national residing in Sri Lanka who allegedly financed and coordinated the shipment of smuggled goods from Nepal to Sri Lanka. We are now working to identify other members of the syndicate, trace the financial transactions associated with the operation, and dismantle the broader international network involved in smuggling,” the spokesperson said.
