RAMESWARAM: Mandapam marine police seized 1,000 kilograms of turmeric (virali manjal variant) at Pamban, foiling a bid to smuggle the spice to Sri Lanka here on Monday.
Based on a tip off, the Mandapam marine police launched a search operation early on Monday morning. During the search, 40 gunny bags containing 20 kilograms of turmeric each were found in a country boat anchored at Pamban north sea, said official sources.
A total of 1,000 kilograms of turmeric was seized from the unregistered country boat from Thoothukudi district by the marine police team led by inspector S Kanagaraj. The turmeric was being smuggled to Puttalam in Sri Lanka, officials said.
The marine police who seized the boat detained M Smileson (29) from Akkalmadam who was found on the shore, keeping a watch over the boat. He was booked under sections 12 (1) (a) of the Passport Act 1967 read with 353 and 506 (ii) of the Indian Penal Code.
The accused, in his confession, stated that he went to Thoothukudi from Pamban in the country boat last Thursday and was contacted by a man named Stalin early on Friday morning who instructed him to collect turmeric bags from Trespuram seashore the same night around 8 pm, the marine police said.
Accompanied by another unidentified Thoothukudi man, Smileson reportedly reached Pamban in the early hours on Saturday. "From there, the duo had reached the assigned GPS coordinates near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), which were given to them. After waiting till midnight, they returned to Pamban and the unidentified man went back to Thoothukudi," the marine police said.
It may be recalled that less than a week ago, Customs department sleuths seized nearly 500 kilograms of turmeric (packed in 10 bags) that was being smuggled to Sri Lanka. Three fishermen -- Malairaj (45), Marichamy (28) and Kaja (30) -- who were on the boat used for the crime were caught near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and were later detained.