NIA raids Trichy special camp for Sri Lankan refugees

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday morning launched a search operation at the special camp for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees at Tiruchirappalli to probe around 20 refugees residing there. The search, being led by NIA officers from Kochi, is in connection with the seizure of 300 kg of heroin, 5 AK-47 rifles, and 1,000 live rounds of 9mm ammunition off the coast of Vizhinjam, near Thiruvananthapuram, in March 2021.

Earlier, Suresh Rajan, a Sri Lankan national, was arrested in connection with the case from Kerala for his alleged links with a Pakistan-based drug runner, Haji Salim, who often shuttled between Dubai, Pakistan and Iran. The NIA probe had also unearthed financial transactions worth crores of rupees in Rajan’s name.

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“Rajan played a prominent role in the drug and arms trafficking to Sri Lanka through the backyard of India. He was aided by several personnel who were part of the LTTE. Today’s search is to probe many more cartels involved in this network as there was specific information about 20 people living at special camps. Some of them were also in touch with Salim directly or through his network,” said a source with knowledge of the ongoing search.

Rajan, who had been living in Chennai for several years, was arrested from Angamaly near Kochi last year. A Thuraya handset, an advanced satellite phone, found on the boat with the drugs and weapons was significant for the NIA probe as it had call logs that led to Rajan and his friend Soundararajan.