NIA arrests 1 more in LTTE revival attempt case in Tamil Nadu, 14th in case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested another man from Tamil Nadu in the LTTE revival conspiracy case involving illegal drugs and arms trade in Sri Lanka and India, an official said on Friday. Lingam A alias ‘Adi Lingam,’ a key conspirator, was the 14 person arrested in the case so far, a spokesperson of the federal agency said. The illegal drugs and arms trade case was registered by the NIA in July last year.

”A resident of Chennai, Lingam was a close associate of another accused, Gunasekharan, and acted as a benami for the latter’s illegal transactions relating to laundering the ‘proceeds of drugs and arms trade’ in India and Sri Lanka. ”Lingam had also forged Identity documents for members of the racket in an attempt to legitimise their illegal stay in India,” the spokesperson said. The official said all the accused in the case were dealing actively in illegal drugs trade in India and Sri Lanka.

”They were using the money earned from the drugs trade for funding acquisition and amassing of weapons for the revival of LTTE in the two countries,” the spokesperson said. The investigations have revealed that the illegal narcotics were sourced from one Haji Salim, an absconder suspected to be based in Pakistan, the official said.