Police in Tamil Nadu have seized 292 kilogrammes of cannabis that was being moved towards the coast for smuggling into Sri Lanka, arresting three men in Ramanathapuram district, according to a report by The Hindu carried by the Daily Mirror.
Acting on a tip-off, a Q Branch police team led by Inspector Jeevamani Dharmaraj, with head constables Rajendran, Senthilkumar, Raju and Raja, was conducting surveillance early on Friday morning when it intercepted a goods vehicle heading towards the shore near the Pudumadam bus stop, close to Uchippuli.
Inside, officers found 292 kg of cannabis divided into 146 two-kilogramme parcels, packed among sacks of vegetables.
Three arrested
The three men arrested were named as Thangaraj, 25, of Kottanatham village in the Vilathikulam taluk of Thoothukudi district, who was driving the vehicle; Sekar, 50, of Kumarasakkanapuram, Vilathikulam; and Senthilvelan, 50, of Melatheru, Perungulam, in Ramanathapuram district.
Questioning revealed the group had obtained the cannabis from a gang in Madurai and then loaded vegetables at the Paravai market to disguise the consignment, the report said. Investigators found the men had planned to move the drugs to Sri Lanka from the Pudumadam coastal area through Senthilvelan.
The cannabis and the three men were handed over to the Ramanathapuram Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Unit.
A well-worn smuggling route
Pudumadam sits on the Indian side of the Palk Bay, one of the narrowest crossings between the two countries and a long-established channel for cannabis moving south into Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan authorities have made a series of comparable seizures on the receiving end of the same route this year, including 220 kg of Kerala cannabis recovered at Antonypuram in Jaffna in June and 227 kg intercepted by the STF between Kalutara and Aluthgama the following day.
