NIA files chargesheet against 13 in India, Sri Lanka for attempting to revive LTTE

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against 13 people, including 10 Sri Lankan nationals and three Indians, in connection to its probe into the illegal drugs and arms trade case relating to attempts to revive the activities of Sri Lankan Tamil separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in India and Sri Lanka, the agency said on Friday.

NIA said the charge sheet was filed on Thursday against the arrested accused for the illegal drug trade to fund, amass and stash weapons for the revival of LTTE in India and Sri Lanka.

Three Indians named in the charge sheet are Selvakumar M, Vigneshwara Perumal alias Vicky, and Iyyapan Nandhu.

Further, the NIA has named Sri Lankan nationals C Gunashekharaan alias Guna and Pushparajah alias Pookutti Kanna, who allegedly ran a drug syndicate in the island nation and have been accused of working with Pakistani drugs and arms supplier Haji Salim.

“The drugs were being sourced from Salim, who is suspected to be residing in Pakistan. The accused persons were using foreign WhatsApp numbers to carry out the clandestine trade,” the NIA said in a statement.

Salim, as reported by HT on April 30, allegedly worked with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He handled almost entire maritime smuggling of drugs and arms to India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and other nearby countries, the agency said.

“Investigations in the case had exposed their conspiracy to fund the revival of LTTE through the drug trade. They were arrested (last year) at the Trichy Special Camp. Investigations had further revealed that the accused were using the proceeds of crime to live a lavish life. Several mobile phones with pre-activated Indian SIM cards were also seized from them along with various digital devices, documents relating to drug transactions, cash to the tune of ₹80 lakh and nine gold bars. 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,” the NIA statement added.

Besides Guna and Kanna, eight other Sri Lankans who have been named in the charge sheet are Mohammad Asmin, Alahapperumaga Sunil Ghamini Fonseka, Stanly Kennady Fernando, Dhanukka Roshan, Ladiya, Vella Suranga, Thilipan and Danarathnam Nilukshan.

While Vicky and Nandhu were arrested in April this year, the others were arrested in December 2022.

The federal agency is probing at least four cases related to conspiracy to revive the activities of LTTE in India and Sri Lanka.

In October 2021, Satkunam alias Sabesan, a former intelligence officer of LTTE, was arrested by the NIA in connection with a probe into the seizure of five AK47 rifles, thousands of rounds of 9 mm ammunition and 300 kg of heroin from fishing vessel Ravihansi, which was intercepted by the Coast Guard off the coast of Minicoy in Lakshwadeep on March 18, 2021. (Hindustan Times)