The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has dismantled an international drug trafficking network operating across Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, seizing more than 77 kg of hashish oil and arresting five people during a coordinated operation, officials said on Friday.
The operation was carried out jointly by the agency’s Chennai and Hyderabad zonal units after intelligence inputs pointed to a cross-border drug supply chain transporting narcotics from Nepal through India and onward to Sri Lanka through sea routes.
Vehicle interception leads to breakthrough
As per a report by the Hindustan Times, the first breakthrough came on Tuesday when officers from the NCB’s Hyderabad Zonal Unit intercepted a Tata Safari Storme near the Raikal Toll Plaza on the Bengaluru–Hyderabad highway in Telangana.
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During a search of the vehicle, officials recovered 2 kg of charas concealed inside specially fabricated cavities. Two individuals transporting the contraband were taken into custody. Officials identified them as residents of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
Investigators said the seizure led them to a larger trafficking operation involving hashish oil smuggled into India from Kathmandu in Nepal through the Sonauli Indo–Nepal border.
Major seizure in Thoothukudi
According to the NCB, the larger consignment had already been transported to Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu. Acting on the information, the Chennai Zonal Unit conducted a follow-up operation in the coastal city.
“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”, Hindustan Times quoted a spokesperson as saying.
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Mid-sea transfer plan foiled
Officials said the traffickers intended to move the consignment through coastal waters near Thoothukudi and hand it over to a Sri Lankan receiver in a mid-sea transfer using a fishing boat.
“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 further said.
