Meth makes its way into Chennai in tea bags

CHENNAI: As Chennai increasingly becomes a major transit hub for smuggling narcotics to southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand and even to Australia, investigative agencies at ports and airports are on the lookout for green plastic bags with Mandarin markings saying they contain Chinese tea.
Several seizures of methamphetamine, including the barrel fishermen caught in their net off Mamallapuram last week, saw the narcotic packed in these bags.
These bags may not be from China, said A Bruno, zonal director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). “Our information is that insurgents on the Indo-Myanmar border are involved in smuggling of these drugs through the Bay of Bengal. This has become a primary source of income for them,” Bruno said.
In September 2019, based on a Coast Guard tip-off, 1,156 kg of crystalline meth was seized on Nicobar Island, at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman sea.It was destined for Malaysia and Thailand, concealed in the same green bags with Mandarin markings.
Similar packets containing 5kg of meth were seized by the NCB, Chennai, on February 13. Four people, including three Sri Lankans were arrested. Then last week, the Chennai police discovered 78kg of meth in the barrel was netted by the fishermen. A similar case was detected off the Cuddalore coast as well.
Bruno said the Myanmar link was obvious due to the ship from which the Andaman seizure was made. “The packaging is done to mislead the agencies off guard,” he said. Chennai’s air connectivity to Malaysia, Singapore and Australia has made it a transit hub for narcotic smugglers. Tamil Nadu’s long coastline is another attraction for them.
Though the wholesale rate of meth is Rs 1 lakh a kg, on the street dealers can earn up to Rs 10 lakh a kg, Bruno said. “In Australia, this can go up to Rs 20 lakh a kg,” he added.