Lankan kingpins of massive Nov drug haul held in city
CHENNAI: Sri Lankan drug kingpins MMM Nawas and Mohamed Afnas, who were residing in Karapakkam, were arrested by the NCB on Friday as a follow up action to the seizure of 95.37 kg heroin and 18.32 kg methamphetamine along with arms from a Lankan fishing boat Shenaya Duwa on November 26 last year near Thoothukudi coast.
The drug haul was believed to have originated from Pakistan and six Lankan nationals on board had been arrested and remanded to judicial custody. “The NCB Chennai zonal unit sleuths intercepted the kingpin and his associate. Both the SL nationals were living in Chennai along with their families by concealing their nationalities. The duo was the masterminds behind organising and transporting the contraband seized from boat. They were staying without valid passports as MMM Nawas for the last 10 years and Mohammed Afnas for the last 3 years,” said A Bruno, zonal director, NCB, Chennai.
Both Nawas and Afnas hold important positions in the multinational heroin syndicate. They were controlling the mid-sea pick up and delivery of narcotic drugs from Pakistani and Iranian vessels. They also operated in Afganistan, Iran, Maldives and Australia. Both had fled Sri Lanka when authorities closed in on them. Nawas has a red corner notice against him as well. They were booked under the NDPS Act 1985.
Pak narcos control trade
The largest opium cultivation region of the world, the death triangle comprising Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, has two important transit points for processed heroin in Sri Lanka and Maldives and the mid sea transfers happen in India’s territorial waters. There is a big network of foreign entities controlling the trade. Information from intelligence sources convey that Pakistani drug traffickers lodged in SL prisons for drug offences control this trade.