Tamil Nadu's drug network: Is state the new hub for international drug cartels and narco-terrorism?

Time of India

14 hours ago

As the midday sun spreads its rays across the sandy shores of Tuticorin, waves gently lap jetties. The salt-heavy waters of the Bay of Bengal appear bleached as stray dogs claw the sand for crabs.
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Barring men unknotting nets, there is hardly any human presence. But the calm seaside picture is deceptive.
Under the cover of darkness, jetties along the coasts of Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin are used as exit points by drug smugglers to send consignments for cartels in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
The stretch of coast, though far from the epicentres of drug production, is increasingly caught in the currents of a larger narcotics trade.
Today, about 2,000kg of drugs reach SL every month via India, say state intelligence sources. Drugs from Myanmar are brought by road to TN mostly by Moreh Tamils in Manipur with easy access to the Golden Triangle nations, say investigators. A sizeable number of this community live in Red Hills in Chennai.
Methamphetamine is now the dominant drug, with seizures having grown four-fold between 2013 and 2022. Synthetic drugs offer flexibility, as they have shorter production times and no fixed geography.
They do not require large areas of land or labour but only cheap chemical inputs that can be relatively easy to source. India is strategically located between the Gold Crescent and the Golden Triangle, sharing borders with seven countries making it one of the major consumer and exit points for drug trafficking through these regions.
Significant is the fact that offenders from India, African countries and Sri Lanka, facing trial, continue to operate well-oiled cartels from Puzhal prison in Chennai and the Trichy special camp that accommodate foreign nationals charged with criminal offences, say investigators.
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A new UNODC World Drug Report 2025, released on June 26, said a new era of global instability has intensified challenges in addressing the world drug problem, empowering organized crime groups and pushing drug use to historically high levels.
As per the World Drug Report 2024 released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Golden Triangle, spanning the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Thailand, is a hub for opium and synthetic drug production, consignments of which are routed through Tamil Nadu.
Opium's dominance as the main source of illegal revenues has, however, declined over the past 30 years and there is a shift towards synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, says the report.
The bigger concern among central investigating agencies in India is the spectre of narco-terrorism. As per an intelligence unit report prepared in 2023 and accessed by TOI, 'War on terror coupled with war on drugs together pose a composite threat in the form of narcotics-terrorism, which has also emerged as a module being adopted by ISI to fund its subversive and terror activities in India and it is increasingly perceived as the primary source of terror funding in Kashmir Valley.
' When contacted, the ministry of external affairs declined to comment.
Narco-terrorism in India is not a new phenomenon. For years, terrorism has ridden piggyback on the narcotics trade for funds, say intelligence sources. In 2021, for example, the Indian Coast Guard and Narcotics Control Bureau intercepted Sri Lankan fishing vessel 'Ravihansi' in Indian waters off the Vizhinjam coast of Kerala and seized 300kg of heroin along with five AK-47 Rifles and 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition, says a retired senior police officer who worked on the case.
The heroin, concealed in the vessel's water tank, was from Iran. One of the 14 accused in the case is a resident of Chennai. He later turned approver.
TN'S GANJA FIELDS
Though cotton and vegetables have replaced the once lush cannabis fields spread across the lower slopes of Varusanadu in Theni, ganja is still grown in small pockets in the region as well as in Tiruvannamalai. TOI trekked up the Varusanadu hills to find large blackened and burnt patches on hill tops, evidence of govt action against ganja farms that were flourishing not long ago.
But small ganja farms that have escaped watchful eyes continue to survive in small patches tucked away behind trees and shrubs higher up on the mountain, says CPI's Theni district committee member P Manavalan.
PRISON CARTELS
Offenders from India, African countries and Sri Lanka, facing trial, continue to operate well-oiled cartels from TN prisons. Drug lords in Pakistan and Sri Lanka run efficient networks that reach Puzhal prison in Chennai and the Trichy special camp that accommodate foreign nationals charged with criminal offences
PAINKILLERS ON THE MOVE
The UNODC data on drug use confirm that the non-medical use of the painkiller tramadol is one of the major drug-related health concerns. Despite improved control measures in India, most of the tramadol present in the illicit markets in Africa continues to depart from South Asia
More than 30 countries identified as sources for pregabalin across Asia, Europe and Africa, but the drug seems to originate mostly in India, says UNODC report.
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