Lawyer among three arrested for attempting to smuggle charas into Sri Lanka

Q Branch police have arrested three persons, including a lawyer, for attempting to smuggle charas worth Rs 28 crore into Sri Lanka on a boat on Sunday evening.

Sources in the Q Branch said they had received information that the smugglers were illegally bringing narcotics into Sri Lanka by boat from Terespuram beach. A team of the Q Branch led by Vijaya Anita and Sub-Inspector Jeevamani Dharmaraj patrolled Terespuram and Tharuvaikulam beaches on Sunday evening.

When the patrol team spotted three persons wandering around Terespuram beach in the north, the police team arrested them and seized a bag containing 56 packets of a halwa-like substance. When the police checked the contents of the packets, they found that the smugglers were carrying charas, a resinous narcotic substance extracted from the ganja plant. Each packet contained 1 kg of charas worth around Rs 28 crore.

The three are 46-year-old advocate Amalraj, leading the team from T. Saveriyarpuram, and 31-year-old Infant Victor from Kovilpilaivilai, both under the jurisdiction of Thaalamuthu Nagar police station, and 32-year-old Nishanthan from Tsunami Colony near Thermal Nagar Camp II under the jurisdiction of Thermal Nagar police station.

The smugglers had sourced ‘charas’ from Andhra Pradesh via Chennai to smuggle it from Thoothukudi to Sri Lanka.

The Q Branch police handed over the drugs along with Amalraj, Infant and Nishanthan to the Thoothukudi District Narcotics Control Unit for further investigation. Police suspect that Amalraj and others might have smuggled the drugs in the past.