Chennai, Jan 29 (IANS): Customs officials seized hydroponic ganja valued at Rs 23.5 crore from Chennai Airport on Wednesday and arrested three people in this connection.

The contraband was smuggled from Thailand, concealed in soft drink powder packets.

According to sources, the hydroponic ganja, cultivated using water as the primary medium, is known by various street names, including OG, sugarcone, and Kush.

Tamil Nadu has increasingly become a key transit hub for international drug syndicates, with banned substances like methamphetamine and its precursor, pseudoephedrine, being trafficked to countries such as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Australia, where demand is high, the sources said.

In 2024, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized methamphetamine worth approximately Rs 380 crore.

Intelligence sources indicate that a significant portion of the drugs are sourced from Myanmar and transported to Sri Lanka.

On November 17, 2024, Chennai city police arrested Nigerian national Philip, believed to be the mastermind behind a cartel smuggling methamphetamine into Tamil Nadu and distributing it in smaller quantities.

The Arumbakkam police have so far arrested 12 individuals in connection with the case.

The drug, which costs between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1,00,000 per kilogram in Manipur, is sold for as much as Rs 7 lakh per kilogram in Chennai. In international markets such as Sri Lanka and Australia, its price escalates to several crores.

According to NCB sources, the primary smuggling route involves transporting methamphetamine from Myanmar across the India-Myanmar border into Manipur.

From there, it is carried by human couriers on trains to Tamil Nadu, where it is concealed in vehicles and transported to coastal towns like Rameswaram, Thoothukudi, and Nagapattinam. Once at the coast, the drugs are loaded onto local fishing boats and transferred mid-sea to Sri Lanka via Tamil Nadu’s porous maritime border, the NCB sources added.

Investigations have identified Moreh, a town in Manipur near the India-Myanmar border, as a critical transit hub.

The Tamil community in Moreh is suspected to have links with Chennai's Red Hills area, further exposing the reach of the drug syndicate.

Authorities have also uncovered evidence suggesting that remnants of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) may still be clandestinely operating in parts of Tamil Nadu.

In October 2021, former LTTE operative Satkunam alias Sabesan was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his involvement in arms and drug trafficking from Pakistan to Sri Lanka.

Although the LTTE has been defunct for years, security agencies suspect that its highly trained former cadres are engaging in mid-sea smuggling operations, facilitating the transportation of drugs from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka and beyond - to Malaysia and Australia.