The defence authorities have been alerted on the arrest of three Sri Lankans in Bangalore who are wanted in connection with at least 11 homicides in the country, a senior official said yesterday.
He said, however, that the Indian authorities are yet to officially inform the authorities in Colombo on the arrest of the three Sri Lankans. Foreign media reports said that Tamil Tiger sympathisers are allegedly providing assistance for local criminals to sneak into India.
The three Sri Lankans who had left the country by boat had landed in Rameswaram in South India and was later picked up by a local handler who took them to a safe house in Bangalore.
According to local defence officials there appears to be a well organised syndicate between local criminal activists and their handlers across the Palk Straits.
The three Sri Lankans wanted in connection with at least 11 homicides and other criminal activities were arrested by the Indian police earlier this week prompting a warning from the authorities in Colombo that such persons may have connections with the outlawed LTTE.
13 mobile phones
The three suspects were rounded up with their local Indian handler from a safe house in Bengaluru earlier this week along with 13 mobile phones and other local Indian documents, according to reports.
The reports said that the Sri Lankans were identified as Kasan Kumara Sanka, EWA Amila Nuwan and Ranga Prasad while their local handler was named as Paramesh alias Jayaparamesh Paramesh who is also packing a murder charge and a has case filed against him.
Paramesh, according to the reports had provided safe shelter for the three Sri Lankan fugitives for a little over two weeks after they had landed on the Rameshwaram coast from Sri Lanka dodging both the Sri Lankan and Indian naval authorities.
Later on the three Sri Lankan suspects rode a bus from Rameshwaram and arrived in Bengaluru where they were provided shelter by their Indian handler.
According to reports a person identified as Jalal is believed to have assisted the Sri Lankans to sneak into India and currently a hunt is on to nab him. The Sri Lankans told investigators that they would be killed either by the police or rival gangs should they be returned to the country,
Initial investigations have also revealed that Jalal was a known narcotic trafficker who had served a jail term in Oman.
An Indian pastor and three others were arrested along with 600 kilograms of cannabis that was meant to be smuggled into Sri Lanka, according to reports.
The suspects were travelling in a truck from Andhra Pradesh to the coastal area of Tamil Nadu when they were intercepted by a police road patrol. The cannabis was found neatly stacked inside a false roof inside the truck and was meant to be smuggled into Sri Lanka, the reports said.
TN police
The smuggling of narcotics activities are on the rise as efforts to revive the LTTE are speculated to have picked up again, the report, quoted police as saying.
Earlier this month, TN police busted another smuggling ring and seized 300 kilograms of ganja from the coasts of Nagapattinam.
A few days later NIA raided many places involved in an illegal drugs and arms trade racket in Chennai and arrested one person.
TN police have been receiving intelligence inputs about such attempts from central agencies which have been tracking Pakistani and Tamil nationalist groups behind this.
Police said that these networks smuggle ganja to Sri Lanka and bring back heroin which is used to raise funds to revive the now defunct LTTE.