E-Paper
NCB dismantles Nepal-India-Sri Lanka narcotics network; 77 kg hashish oil seized, 5 held
NCB arrests five people and seizes over 77 kg of hashish oil while busting a cross-border narcotics network trafficking drugs from Nepal to Sri Lanka via India
New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested five people and seized over 77 kg of hashish oil while dismantling an international drug trafficking network operating across Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, officials said on Friday.
The agency’s Chennai and Hyderabad zonal units jointly conducted the operation after receiving intelligence about a cross-border drug supply chain that moved contraband from Nepal through India to Sri Lanka via sea routes.
Officials said the breakthrough came on Tuesday, when officers from the Hyderabad Zonal Unit intercepted a Tata Safari Storme near Raikal Toll Plaza on the Bengaluru–Hyderabad highway in Telangana. During a search of the vehicle, officers found 2 kg of charas concealed inside specially fabricated cavities. Two people — one a resident of Delhi and the other from Uttar Pradesh — were arrested for transporting the contraband.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the seized charas was part of a larger consignment that included around 78 kg of hashish oil trafficked into India from Kathmandu in Nepal through the Sonauli Indo–Nepal border. The bulk consignment of hashish oil had already been delivered to Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu for onward trafficking to Sri Lanka through coastal waters,” a spokesperson said.
He added that, acting on this lead, the NCB’s Chennai Zonal Unit launched an operation in Thoothukudi and seized around 78 kg of hashish oil from three persons, including a Sri Lankan refugee.
Two cars, a motorbike and a fishing boat used in transporting the contraband were also seized.
Investigators said the traffickers planned to move the narcotics through coastal waters off Thoothukudi and hand them over mid-sea to a Sri Lankan receiver using a fishing boat. With assistance from the Indian Coast Guard, the NCB intercepted and seized the fishing boat suspected to be used for the mid-sea transfer near the International Maritime Boundary Line, preventing the cross-border trafficking attempt.
“The NCB probe has identified the involvement of a Sri Lankan national based in Sri Lanka who allegedly financed and coordinated the shipment of the contraband from Nepal to Sri Lanka. We are now working to identify other members of the syndicate, trace financial transactions linked to the operation and dismantle the broader international network involved in the trafficking,” the spokesperson said.
