CHENNAI: Jaffer Sadiq, the alleged kingpin in the multi-crore drug trafficking case, has actively scouted individuals with international road permits and stationed them in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Dubai, and Malaysia to work as drivers and clandestinely handle his drug trade there, the ED investigation has found.
These resources were part of his well-oiled network through which the expelled DMK functionary operated his international syndicate. The ED had alleged that the accused procured the controlled substance, pseudoephedrine, and exported it by concealing it with desiccated coconut, food items, soda ash and bangles.
ED found that Sadiq tried to send three men, two from Pune and one from Ramanthapuram, from Dubai to Auckland to work as drivers for a monthly salary of Rs 3.5 lakh. These men had fraudulently obtained ID cards of Dubai-based companies and resident visas by paying bribes and falsifying records. They were unable to travel to New Zeland as Dubai airport authorities stopped them due to a defective visa.
The agency filed a charge sheet against Sadiq and 11 others including his family members and film director Ameer and eight firms that were used to launder the black money. The agency found cash deposits of Rs 30 crore linked to various entities controlled by Sadiq which were channelled into films through JSM Pictures and other businesses. ED has also provisionally attached assets worth Rs 55.3 crore including properties and cars of Sadiq and his aides.
Sadiq had used six front companies in Delhi, Tiruchy and Chennai to export 237 consignments of pseudoephedrine and Ketamine to Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia from 2014 to 2024. The materials were sent to 12 companies, five in Malaysia, six in Australia, and one in New Zealand, the ED said.
Sources said ED’s investigation has brought out how some of these firms were controlled by Sadiq and his team from India. During searches at their Delhi hideout in February, agencies stumbled upon a purchase order and yellow stamps of two Australian firms – Linear Imports and Lovo Trading – to which the consignments were being sent to, leading them to conclude that the documentation was being done in India itself to hoodwink Customs. The suspicion was further buttressed as no payment was received from the firms.
The six Indian front companies were themselves set up in the name of Sadiq’s benamis like Ashok Kumar, Mujeepur Rahman, Mukesh PU, and Sathanantham, who were working as casual labourers, auto drivers and extras in films. The bank accounts of these firms, used for day-to-day expenses and laundering the drug money obtained in cash, was also in their names, the probe found.
While Sadiq and his brothers, Saleem and Mydeen Gani, procured the drugs, it was transported from Chennai or Tiruchy to Delhi via trains as cargo declared as ragi or other food products. It would then be exported to other countries via air from Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai, the ED has found.
