NAGAPATTINAM: A YouTuber from Nagapattinam and three others were booked for allegedly smuggling ganja from Nagapattinam to Sri Lanka.
Gunaseelan, who runs a youtube channel called 'Nagai Meenavan' was booked for allegedly smuggling 280 kilos of ganja worth Rs 1.68 crores to Lankan waters 2 days ago.
The youtube channel has 687k subscribers. In his videos, the Youtuber Gunaseelan shows the life of fishermen venturing into the sea and their fishing activities and also cooking of various seafood.
The police found 280 kgs of ganja worth Rs 1.68 crores in a fiberglass boat at Kichankuppam two days back. On investigation, they were told that this was to be sent to Sri Lanka. The police then found four 2-wheelers, some fishing nets near the boat, which they seized.
On investigation, they found the owners of the four 2-wheelers and booked them. The accused are Gunaseelan, Sathish, Sivachandran, and Thamarai Selvan.
"We found two four-wheelers near the boat. We were quickly able to trace the owners of the two-wheelers. We found out that they are regularly smuggling ganja to Sri Lanka. We are looking for the accused," said a police officer. The four accused are on the run.
Based on the inputs received, five teams with 35 customs officials raided the homes of the four accused on Wednesday. The raids took place for more than 2 hours on Wednesday. The officials however did not find anything, said sources. The raids were conducted under the instructions of Deputy Commissioner Senthil Nathan.
The team of customs department officials has increased vigilance at the Kichankuppam coastal area