The Q Branch of the Tamil Nadu police arrested four men in Ramanathapuram district for trying to smuggle 250kg of ganja to Sri Lanka through sea route in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Q Branch sleuths seized the contraband and the vehicles used for the purpose. However, three others managed to escape.

Q Branch officials received a tip-off that ganja was smuggled to Sri Lanka from Keelakarai area in the district and intensified patrolling in the coastal areas.

At around 3.30am, seven people on two motorcycles and a car came to Pakeerappa Dargah - the tip of land facing the sea in Keelakarai.

The Q Branch team rounded up the gang and managed to nab four men. The arrested were identified as Feroz Ahmed, Ahmed Aslam, Ahmed Sagur and Hamid Uplan.

They smuggled the contraband from Andhra Pradesh by road and were trying to transport it to Sri Lanka through sea.

"Apparently the boat was supposed to come from Sri Lanka. It was a strategic place - the tip of land facing the sea. The area was difficult to be monitored. We seized 250kg of ganja which is worth Rs 50,000 per kilogram in Sri Lanka while it is prized Rs 5,000 here," a Q Branch official in Ramanathapuram said.

Feroz Ahmed seemed to be the kingpin of the gang. He had spent seven years in a Mumbai jail for smuggling narcotics, officials said.

The arrested gang members were remanded in judicial custody.

It may be recalled that a Sri Lankan court had recently sentenced five men from Rameswaram to death for smuggling narcotics. They were released last week after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa commuted the death sentence.
(Times Of India)