NIA charges 10 foreigners among 13 in case linked to LTTE revival

The National Investigation Agency has filed a chargesheet against 13 people, including 10 foreigners, in the India-Sri Lanka illegal drugs and arms trade case relating to attempts to revive the terror group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam in the two countries, an official said on Friday.

An agency spokesperson said the accused charge-sheeted on Thursday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act include three Indians -- Selvakumar M, Vigneshwara Perumal alias "Vicky" and Iyyapan Nandhu alias "Ayyappan Nandhu".

The official identified the remaining 10 as Sri Lankan nationals -- C Gunasekaran alias "Guna", Pushparajah alias "Pookutti Kanna", Mohammad Asmin, Alahapperumaga Sunil Ghamini Fonseka, Stanly Kennady Fernando, Dhanukka Roshan, Ladiya alias "Nalin Chathuranga", Vella Suranga alias "Gamage Suranga Pradeep", Thilipan alias "Dileepan" and Danarathnam Nilukshan.

While Vicky and Nandhu were arrested in April this year, the others were arrested in December last year.

The NIA had filed the case suo motu on July 8 last year and arrested the 13 persons from Tamil Nadu.

The spokesperson said the charge-sheeted men had conspired for exploiting the illegal drugs trade for funding, amassing and stashing weapons for the revival of LTTE in India and Sri Lanka.

The drugs were being sourced from one Haji Salim, who is suspected to be residing in Pakistan, the official said, adding the accused persons had been using various foreign WhatsApp numbers to carry out the clandestine trade.

"Investigations in the case had exposed their conspiracy to fund the revival of LTTE through drug trade. They were arrested at the Trichy Special Camp (Tamil Nadu)," the spokesperson said.

The official said the accused were using the proceeds of crime to live a lavish life. "Several mobile phones with pre-activated Indian SIM cards were seized from them."

The NIA also seized various digital devices, documents relating to drug transactions, cash to the tune of Rs 80 lakh and nine gold bars during the course of the investigations, the official said.

The spokesperson said the cash and gold were proceeds from the sale of narcotics and were being channelled through hawala networks between Chennai and Sri Lanka.

Several transactions using Crypto platforms were also unearthed between the accused.