With the arrest of three drug peddlers in Chennai, including two Sri lankan nationals and recovery of heroin worth Rs 50 crore, Special Cell of Delhi Police on Sunday claimed to have busted an international drug cartel.
“The accused have been identified as Mayelerum Perumal, alias Mailu, a resident of Tirunelveli district of Tamil Naidu, Jawzeek MR and Mohammad Razik MS, both residents of Sri lanka,” DCP (Special Cell) Rajeev Ranjan said here.
The Special Cell had been looking for Mailu Perumal, a notorious drug peddler, for the last several months after his role was ascertained in many cases. In July this year, a consignment of 36.214 kilo heroin was seized and a hunt was launched for the lynchpin, the DCP said. The gang members were arrested by Special Cell in a joint operation with the local police from Chennai on Saturday.
The accused are being questioned to ascertain if they also have any links with any terror outfit or Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), police said. During investigations, police had learnt that heroin was smuggled into India from Afghanistan via Pakistan using Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan borders and concealed inside tin boxes of processed food before being further supplied to Sri lanka.
The accused had said that they were being handled by Mayelerum Perumal of Chennai, who was the main link for foreign based narco mafias, they said. Following this, a police team worked to locate Mayelerum Perumal for the next four months.
“The efforts bore fruit when an input was received that Mailu has accumulated a large consignment of heroin at a safe house in Chennai and the same was to be received for onward trafficking by some Sri lankan nationals who had arrived for the purpose in India,” said Ranjan, adding that a team was sent to Chennai to arrest the accused.
Approximately 16 kilo heroin worth Rs 50 crore concealed inside processed food cans was recovered from them. An FIR has been lodged at Poonamallee police station in Chennai, he said. The trio told police that the smuggled heroin is packed by emptying cans containing precooked or processed food and kept at safe houses before being sent to Sri lanka for onward consumption and peddling, police said. “Packing limited quantity of drug in large consignments of processed food cans seldom raises an eyebrow and often passes undetected by sniffers or scanners,” said Ranjan.