Decline in brown sugar smuggling from India

The quantities of brown sugar attempted to be smuggled to Sri Lanka from India has come down. Except a case in which the narcotics seized 10.5 kg of brown sugar, the quantities involved in other seizures were small.

Heightened vigil mounted on the sea by Indian agencies, the arrest of major operators in the last few years and the conflict in Sri Lanka are among the reasons for this trend, according to S. Davidson Devasirvatham, South Zonal Director, Narcotics Control Bureau, Chennai.

The Bureau, the apex coordinating agency for anti-narcotic drug operations, detected nine cases of attempting to smuggle heroin to Sri Lanka this year. The total quantity seized was 25.142 kg. The highest of 10.5 kg was seized from a residential premises at Bommanahalli in Bangalore in May.

Two persons, both hailing from Madhya Pradesh, were arrested. In 2006, the Bureau seized 103.54 kg of brown sugar and arrested 45 persons, including 24 Sri Lankans.

Devasirvatham told The Hindu that there was no major seizure of heroin, meant for Sri Lanka this year. This was because the Navy and the Coast Guard had stepped up surveillance, especially along the Rameswaram coast.