India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Tiruchy zone, has seized a large consignment of methamphetamine in Nagapattinam district that officers say was intended for Sri Lanka, and arrested a functionary of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the party that governs Tamil Nadu.
The operation took place on Friday, 16 October. A 16-member DRI team raided a house at Prathaparamanallur at about 6 a.m., the Daily Mirror reported, citing the Indian daily DT Next. Questioning there led officers to a second house, where the drugs were found.
Who was held
The man named as the alleged organiser is N. Boopalan, 42, an advocate and a member of TVK’s Nagapattinam district executive committee. He stood in as the party’s in-charge for the Kilvelur Assembly constituency at the 2026 Tamil Nadu election.
Also named is J. Sughan, alias Suganathan, 27, who held a leased lodging business at Velankanni. His brother J. Parthiban, 29, and D. Sathish, 30, were initially described as detained for inquiry; the same filing later says all four were arrested after the searches. Hiru News reports four arrests outright.
Investigators say the drugs were brought from Chennai and held for distribution within Tamil Nadu as well as for shipment onward. Hiru adds a detail the Daily Mirror does not carry — that the route to Sri Lanka was to be by sea.
Officers have noted that Boopalan’s wife is Sri Lankan, and suspect that connection was used to facilitate the operation. That is an investigative suspicion, not a finding.
The outlets do not agree on how much
The Daily Mirror and Hiru both put the seizure at 100 kg. The News Minute reported it as around 135 kg, describing the haul as worth several hundred crore rupees. Ada Derana’s headline on the same case also gives 100 kg, though its site remains unreachable from this desk.
No agency figure has been published to settle the difference. At either weight this is a substantial consignment, and the gap of roughly a third is not a rounding difference.
The party has expelled him
TVK’s Nagapattinam district secretary M. Sugumaran announced Boopalan’s removal from the party’s primary membership and from all responsibilities, citing allegations of trafficking in high-grade narcotics and conduct contrary to the party’s principles. Cadres were urged to cut ties with him.
The political weight here is easy to understate. TVK is led by Vijay, who took office as Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister in May — so this is a functionary of a sitting state government’s ruling party, arrested over narcotics said to be destined for Sri Lankan shores.
Not reported
No Sri Lankan agency has said whether it was informed of the operation, whether any receiving network here has been identified, or whether the consignment had an intended landing point. No Sri Lankan arrests have been reported in connection with the case.
