Chennai: The sleuths from the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested a 38-year-old man, who is an ex-LTTE sympathiser and who was leading a secret life in Sweden under another name, in connection with a 12-year old case of seizure of 12kg heroin.
The arrested Sri Lankan national was identified as Saravana Kumar alias Shetty alias Saravanan, a native of Mannar district in Sri Lanka. He was arrested at Chennai international airport with the help of immigration officials by NCB men while he was proceeding to Dubai en route to Sweden.
He was one of the nine suspects in the case of a seizure of 12.780kgs of heroin held at Ramanathapuram bus stand in 2004. Six people were arrested at that time and two more are still wanted in the case, noted NCB Chennai zonal director, Prem Anand Sinha.
The former LTTE sympathiser Saravanan left Sri Lanka after his brother, an LTTE man, was killed in an ambush by the Lankan army. He was residing at the Mandapam camp as a refugee. He was involved in trafficking of drugs between Rameswaram and Sri Lanka by boat. He vanished from the scene after his associates were caught with narcotics in 2004.
"In an earlier mission he had transported 12 kg narcotics to Sri Lanka from India. He was to collect the second consignment when the NCB sleuths arrested his associates on August 1, 2004. Since then he was absconding but was living in Sweden with a fake passport," said an NCB official.
He had prepared a Sri Lankan passport and ID in the name of Muthu Maheswaran at a cost of Sri Lankan Rs 20 lakh. While working and doing various jobs like driving, cleaning etc, Saravanan got refugee status in Sweden in 2014. He was granted Swedish citizenship and got a Swedish passport in that name, an official added.
