Two Sri Lankans held in India

A day after busting a fake currency circulation and drug trafficking gang by arresting four people, the Indian police have arrested five more, including two Sri Lankan Tamils, on Tuesday while launching a dragnet for five others to pin down the entire network, the Hindu newspaper reported.

After stepping up the investigation, a special team, led by K. Maheswari, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Kilakarai), arrested five people, including two Sri Lankan Tamils, who were either involved in drug trafficking or circulating fake Indian currencies with a total face value of Rs. 9.5 lakh.

Muneez alias Murugesan, the prime accused who had smuggled ganja and received Rs. 9.5 lakh in fake Indian currency notes in the denomination of Rs. 1,000 from one Amaran, a drug peddler in Sri Lanka, was among the five arrested on Tuesday and remanded in judicial custody, the DSP said.

The police identified the other accused as Veeramurugan (23), Vicky alias Venkatesh (23) from Madurai, and Rajan (42) and Siva (31) from a refugee camp at Batlagundu in Dindigul district. Siva had been staying in the camp since 1999, while Rajan arrived in Tamil Nadu in 2007, the police said.

The police have detained Robert, a fisherman in Mandapam, for interrogation. He had lent his ‘vallam’ (country boat) for drug trafficking, police said.

Interrogation of the accused revealed that five more people — two in Thangachimadam, one in Pamban and two in Madurai — were involved in the racket and special teams had fanned out to nab them, Ms. Maheswari said.

Superintendent of Police N.M. Mylvahanan, who was supervising the investigation, has ordered a detailed probe stating that “it has serious dimensions.” The seized fake Indian currencies were of very high quality and the source of the counterfeit notes had to be ascertained, he had said.