RAMANATHAPURAM:
In a development seemingly linked to the recent seizures on the Tamil Nadu coast of arms and ammunition bound for Sri Lanka, the Special Narcotics Cell of the Customs on Sunday arrested Balan (50), a native of Kyps Island in Jaffna district of Sri Lanka, a naturalised American citizen.
A.M. Pratab, Superintendent of Customs, Special Narcotic Cell, said a team that was monitoring suspicious movements, caught him at gunpoint at Mandapam.
Informed sources said primary interrogation revealed that he was one of the kingpins of smuggling in the region and one of the coordinators of the arms network in Tamil Nadu. They said he had contacts with smugglers operating from Rameswaram and Mandapam in Ramanathapuram district. He had been staying clandestinely in the district since two months.
Officials, however, did not confirm if he had any links with the LTTE.
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