Sri Lankan drug trafficker who escaped to Bengaluru held

CHENNAI: ‘Q’ branch sleuths of the state police on Wednesday arrested an international drug trafficker in Bengaluru after narrowly missing him in Pudupakkam near Kancheepuram. He was identified as Sunil Gemini Fonseka alias ‘Katta’ Kamini, a Sri Lankan national, and a court sent him to jail on Wednesday.
A search of his Bengaluru hideout unearthed a voter identity card in the name of ‘Fonseka’ with a Kelambakkam, Chennai, address and five identity cards under different names.
Police said Fonseka was a proclaimed offender in Sri Lanka for his involvement in several murders and was even awarded the death penalty in a drug trafficking case. ‘Q’ branch officers have communicated to their Sri Lankan counterparts about the arrest.
Recently, based on a specific tip, a ‘Q’ branch team traced him to the Pudupakkam house and was about to move in when he fled. The house owner told police Fonseka had rented the house saying he was an entrepreneur.
In 2003, ‘Q’ branch sleuths had nabbed Fonseka for entering Tamil Nadu through an illegal ferry and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested him after a consignment of narcotics was seized from him. He was sent to jail. Following his release in 2011, he is supposed to have stayed at an apartment complex in Kelambakkam and even applied for an Indian passport using forged documents and a fake Aadhaar card. But, police are unsure of his whereabouts between 2011and 2020.
Police plan to take him into their custody to find out more about his activities.
Police said Fonseka had been involved in drug trafficking in many other countries and is also said to have close contacts with fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim.