Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Now, drug smugglers turn to the Maldives

By K.T. Sangameswaran

CHENNAI JULY 13. After the Indo-Sri Lankan sector, it is now the Indo-Maldivian corridor that has caught the attention of enforcement authorities. Officials have seized brown sugar being smuggled to the Maldives on two occasions in the last three months alone, the south zonal Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau, Shankar Jiwal, told The Hindu.

The first catch was on April 26 in Thiruvananthapuram, when a 20-year-old youth, bound for the island nation by an Indian Airlines flight, was intercepted by NCB officials, and 295 grams of heroin, contained in 64 capsules, and $ 300 were seized from him. Investigation revealed that he had been a courier in the drug trade for about two years. The officials also tracked down the main handler, who also hailed from Thiruvananthapuram.

And on June 30, also in Thiruvananthapuram, two persons including the organiser, were nabbed, and heroin in 88 capsules, totally weighing 350 grams, was seized. The carrier was also found to be in possession of 128 two ml ampoules of a synthetic opiate.

The heroin capsule is made of a thick layer of cellophane tape, covered by a few layers of electricity insulation tapes, and later put inside surgical gloves of the size of fingers. The capsules are swallowed by smugglers and ejected at the destination points.

Mr. Jiwal said interrogation of the arrested and a profile of couriers and the main organisers of the trade reveal that there was a clear-cut `Kerala link' to the smuggling operations. The operators in the State got the drug from Mumbai in bulk quantities of two or three kilograms in one instalment, stored the contraband in a safe place and later smuggled it in small quantities to the Maldives. This was in sharp contrast to the smuggling of heroin from India to Sri Lanka, which was usually in bigger quantities. The suspicion was that about three kg of heroin a month was being smuggled to the Maldives. The smuggled quantity was said to be meant for tourists in the island nation where the Government was strict in implementing anti-drug and alcohol laws. The demand had steadily gone up in the last two years and the local youth were slowly getting addicted to drugs, the Director said adding that though official statistics about consumption was not available.

Smuggling of heroin from India to Sri Lanka had come down as the major gangs, involved in trafficking in the past, had been neutralised, he said.

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