Following Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief V Prabhakaran’s death, a massive tug-of-war is on in the drug world to grab his multi-million dollar drug cartel. The LTTE had a well-oiled drug syndicate in Southeast Asia, but there is nobody to run it after Prabhakaran’s death. “Therefore, several other gangs are looking to take over the syndicate, which has corporate-like operations,” said a senior narcotics control bureau (NCB) officer.
Narcotics experts believe a new drug lord is likely to fill the vacuum created by Prabhakaran’s death. They are not ruling out the possibility of a terror outfit like the Lashkar-e-Taiba taking over. Swaraj Puri, former D-G, NCB, says, “The outfit’s drug smuggling activities are currently stalled” but other drug lords will vie for the market LTTE created.
LTTE arranged funds for its terror activities by smuggling drugs from Sri Lanka to European and American countries. They also supplied drugs to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. According to experts, the LTTE’s drug smuggling business was worth about $200-300 million. The outfit procured most of its consignments, largely heroin, from the Golden Crescent (see box) via Indian routes. They joined hands with Indian druglords to facilitate their business.
Mumbai has been a very important transit point for drug smugglers and those who earlier supplied drugs to LTTE will now try to strike deals directly with the drug mafia abroad.
“The LTTE had joined hands with other terrorist outfits involved in drug smuggling in neighbouring countries. The Tigers got their supply from outfits that operate from PoK. So the outfits that earlier supplied drugs to LTTE will try to spread tentacles in the market that earlier belonged to LTTE,” a senior NCB official said.
In the past, customs, NCB and police officials in Chennai had seized heroin being smuggled to Sri Lanka from India. A senior police official said, “LTTE has always been in the drugs-for-arms business and they also supplied arms to the underworld for drugs that were then sold to the drug mafia in Europe and America”.
Former BSF D-G Prakash Singh said, “India is located between the Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle (see box), which are the largest producers of opium globally. There are many organised drug mafias, operating from India, who have knowledge of the vast market the LTTE catered to. They would try to take it over. Separatists , too, would try and control it to fund their activities.”
At a recent seminar on global terrorism, Sundeep Waslekar, president of the Strategic Foresight Group, said the LTTE had one of the most sophisticated drug cartels. “Their ships were the best in the business and it was a well-oiled syndicate. After Prabhakaran’s death, this network is likely to be taken over by other cartels,” Waslekar said.
