Narcotics Control Bureau arrests two Sri Lankan nationals in major operation
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NEW DELHI
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has performed a major operation culminating in the arrest of two Sri Lankan nationals who had been allegedly key gamers of a world drug trafficking syndicate having hyperlinks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Australia.
The accused, recognized as M.M.M. Nawas and Mohamed Afnas, had been working from Chennai below assumed identities. “They were controlling mid-sea pick-up and delivery of narcotic drugs from Pakistani and Iranian vessels,” stated the company spokesperson, K.P.S. Malhotra. They had fled Sri Lanka following a crackdown by the enforcement businesses there.
“Both Nawas and Afnas hold important positions in the multinational heroin smuggling syndicate. It is also believed that there is an Interpol Red Notice issued by the Sri Lankan government against Nawas,” stated Mr. Malhotra. Acting on an NCB tip-off on the syndicate, the Sri Lankan authorities had not too long ago seized 100 kg of heroin.
Earlier, the NCB — in a joint operation with the Indian Coast Guard — detained a Sri Lankan fishing vessel named Shenaya Duwa in the territorial waters of India close to the Tuticorin Port on November 26, 2020, and seized 96 kg of heroin and 18 kg of methamphetamine. Five pistols and magazines had been additionally discovered with the vessel’s crew.
“Six crew members, all Sri Lankan nationals, were arrested in this connection and they are in judicial custody now,” stated the NCB officer, including that Nawas and Afnas had been arrested following a two-month-long probe.
“Golden Crescent”, the biggest opium cultivation and heroin manufacturing area of the world, comprising Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, has two principal transit factors for the processed heroin in the island nations of Sri Lanka and Maldives. The drug consignments are normally loaded in fishing vessels setting sail from the ports of Iran and Pakistan for mid-sea switch into comparable vessels of Sri Lanka and Maldives, in line with the NCB.
“However, the mid-sea transfers happen in territorial waters of India or very near. There is a big network of foreign entities controlling this lucrative trade. Very reliable intelligence developed by NCB and Indian agencies over the period indicates that Pakistani drug traffickers lodged in Sri Lankan prisons for drug offences control this trade and they source and deliver large quantities of heroin from the ‘Golden Crescent’ to Sri Lankan and Maldivian entities,” stated the company.
The NCB stated it was in fixed contact with worldwide businesses just like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the International Narcotics Control Board, moreover the Australian Federal Police, US Drug Enforcement Agency and the Police Narcotics Bureau of Sri Lanka, throughout the probe.
“The actionable intelligence developed by the NCB and agencies, which was shared with the other national drug law agencies, led to the seizure of hundreds of kilograms of heroin by the Sri Lankan and the Maldivian authorities,” stated the company.
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