TIRUCHY: A search by a Customs team from Tiruchy at a prawn farm at Mimisal in Pudukkottai on Sunday based on a tip-off unearthed about 100 kg of hashish valued at `110 crore and 876 kg of ganja worth `1.05 crore from a thatched shed on the premises.
While an arrest is yet to be recorded, a senior customs official told TNIE that this was the largest drug haul recorded so far this year in Tamil Nadu.
Acting on intelligence on the smuggling of drugs from Pudukkottai to Sri Lanka, sleuths of the Tiruchy Customs Preventive Commissionerate’s Central Intelligence Unit (CIU) held the search at the closed building in the farm which led to the seizure of the narcotics stored in 48 bags.
On the operation, a CIU source said, “There was even no power supply to the thatched shed and there were nobody in the area. There were doubts over drugs being stashed there but the smugglers often use such strategies to avoid attention. Though there were doubts, there was no plan to leave the location without a thorough search.”
On the seizure, a source said, “Though we identified it [contraband] as hashish and ganja, it was not enough. Therefore, we took the contraband to a nearby Customs office for scientific testing and confirmed that it was hashish and ganja. Then, we recorded the seizure under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, and the Customs Act, 1962.”
Though no arrest has been recorded so far in connection with the seizure, sources said that the CIU and other intelligence agencies are closely monitoring the case.
“Drugs are often smuggled to Sri Lanka through sea from Ramanathapuram. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Customs, and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) have busted several such smuggling cases. The recent seizure from Pudukkottai is likely to provide clues to the Customs and other intelligence agencies on where the drugs are stored and how they are reaching Rameswaram and other coastal areas of the state,” a retired customs official said.