Sri Lanka’s top drug lord Kanjipani Imran is in Tamil Nadu and its hardly surprising

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The
sea
route
has
been
the
most
preferred
for
the
drug
cartels
operating
in
Sri
Lanka
and
Tamil
Nadu.
The
proceeds
from
the
drug
trade
are
being
used
to
fund
terror
and
revive
the
defunct
LTTE

New
Delhi,
Jan
03:
Tamil
Nadu
has
been
placed
under
a
state
of
very
high
alert
after
it
was
learnt
that
one
of
Sri
Lanka’s
notorious
drug
lords,
‘Kanjipani’ alias
Mohammed
Imran
had
entered
the
country
through
coastal
Rameswaram.

The
development
is
worrying
for
the
agencies
as
the
number
of
drug
smuggling
are
on
the
rise
from
Sri
Lanka.
All
the
recent
cases
have
clearly
suggested
that
the
drug
mafia
in
Sri
Lanka
and
Tamil
Nadu
are
being
manned
by
the
ISI
in
Pakistan.
It
has
also
come
to
light
that
the
drugs
are
being
sold
and
the
proceeds
of
the
same
are
being
used
to
revive
the
LTTE
in
the
state.

About
Kanjipani:

Kanjipani
Imran
alias
Mohammed
Imran
was
released
from
a
jail
in
Sri
Lanka
after
he
had
obtained
bail
in
a
criminal
case.
He
managed
to
give
the
agencies
in
Sri
Lanka
the
dodge
following
which
is
said
to
entered
Tamil
Nadu

reports
said.

How
Tamil
Nadu
became
a
paradise
for
Pakistan
drug
cartels
to
send
drugs
to
Sri-Lanka

The
Intelligence
says
that
there
are
many
pending
cases
against
Imran
which
include
murder
and
drug
peddling.
He
managed
to
escape
from
Sri
Lanka
on
Christmas
eve.
He
is
internationally
connected
and
deals
directly
with
the
drug
lords
in
Pakistan
and
Afghanistan.
He
was
recently
arrested
in
Dubai
following
which
he
was
deported
to
Sri
Lanka.

Lack
of
effort:

Imran
is
a
notorious
character
and
it
is
not
just
his
drug
connections
that
are
worrying.
In
fact
the
proceeds
from
his
business
directly
are
used
to
fund
terror.
When
he
was
brought
from
Dubai
to
Sri
Lanka,
he
was
arrested
under
the
provisions
of
the
Prevention
of
Terrorism
Act.
He
was
accused
of
threatening
a
police
officer.

Despite
knowing
the
gravity
of
the
situation
and
Sri
Lanka
facing
incidents
of
terror
on
many
occasions,
the
police
rolled
back
the
charges
under
the
Prevention
of
Terrorism
Act
and
applied
new
charges
under
the
penal
code.
This
gave
his
legal
team
the
chance
to
seek
bail
which
he
was
granted
because
the
charges
against
him
were
weak.

At
court,
the
Attorney
General
said
that
the
charges
of
threatening
a
police
man
do
not
fall
under
the
Prevention
of
Terrorism
Act,
following
which
the
Chief
Magistrate
ordered
his
release
while
barring
him
from
travelling
abroad.

The
agencies
in
both
Sri
Lanka
and
Tamil
Nadu
were
found
to
be
lax
in
this
case,
especially
when
there
is
so
much
details
about
this
man.
He
is
said
to
be
a
close
aide
of
Haji
Salim,
a
member
of
the
Pakistan
drug
mafia
who
was
in
close
contact
with
the
nine
persons
arrested
by
the
National
Investigation
Agency
in
a
drug
case.
An
official
tells
OneIndia
that
the
NIA
case
had
made
it
clear
that
this
is
the
same
drug
mafia
which
had
been
funding
the
revival
of
the
LTTE
at
the
behest
of
Pakistan’s
ISI.

Another
26/11
averted:
Agencies
intercept
Pakistan
boat,
arrest
10,
recover
drugs
worth
Rs
300
crore

This
is
also
the
same
module
which
was
part
of
a
major
operation.
In
this
connection
the
Indian
forces
had
intercepted
a
boat
carrying
300
kilograms
of
heroin,
five
AK-47
machine
guns
and
1,000
rounds
of
9
mm
bullets.

The
Rameswaram
connection:

In
November
last
year,
the
Tamil
Nadu
coastal
police
had
arrested
a
DMK
councillor
and
a
former
councillor
of
the
same
party
for
attempting
to
smuggle
cocaine
to
the
tune
of
Rs
360
crore
from
the
Ramanathapuram
district.
The
police
said
that
former
DMK
councillor,
Jainuddin
and
the
current
councillor
of
the
19th
ward
of
Rameswaram,
Sarbaz
Nawaz
had
attempted
to
smuggle
cocaine
into
Sri
Lanka.

The
official
cited
above
said
that
this
is
not
the
time
to
be
lax.
Rameswaram
has
always
known
to
be
a
hub
for
such
activities
and
the
fact
that
Imran
had
managed
to
slip
into
this
place
is
hardly
surprising
as
he
has
a
deeply
infested
network
there.

The
ISI’s
South
game
is
to
link
the
LTTE
revival
to
Tamil
nationalism

When
the
civil
war
in
Tamil
Nadu
ended
the
number
of
drug
smuggling
cases
shot
up.
The
demand
for
cocaine
remains
high
in
India,
while
the
Sri
Lankans
prefer
heroin.

The
drug
cartels
rely
heavily
on
the
fishermen
to
smuggle
in
these
drugs.
There
have
been
scores
of
such
persons
arrested
by
the
Indian
coast
guard
and
the
drug
link
has
cropped
up
in
most
cases.

Story first published: Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:55 [IST]