3 in cops net; free run for gangs trading ganja for gold, cash

: Three members of a smuggling-gang have been arrested and 1.51 kg of gold and 209 gm of silver besides cash to the tune of Rs 10.15 lakh have been recovered from them, police said.

With the arrest of three, belonging to Tamil Nadu, near Seeni Appa Dargah in Mandapam during a vehicle-check, the operation of two major warring gangs involved in bartering ganga from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu for gold and currency notes has been established, the police said.

The gangs, including a businessman from Chennai and his brother in Sri Lanka, were involved in explosives-smuggling too and were using the islands in the Palk Strait as transit point for smuggling between India and Sri Lanka, they said.

The district police superintendent Varun Kumar, who got the information about the gangs, ordered intensifying of patrolling on the coastal area and checking at the checkposts as smuggling of explosives and money laundering were happening on a regular basis.

A police team had checked the Manoli Island when they seized a suspicious steel box with explosives.

A case under Explosives Act has been registered after the seizure of the steel box and explosives in it were defused on Monday.

Besides, 'Pulipadai', a militant organisation, was also involved in the smuggling of gold and ganja, they said.

A special team with five sub-inspectors had been formed to check the smuggling and intensify patrolling in the area.

Investigations revealed that the two gangswere operating and were at loggerheads, and it is suspected that soon a turf war could break out between the two groups, the police said.

The properties of the smuggler-gangs have been identified and were being monitored closely, they said.

The gangs were helped by hirelings based in Chennai, Madurai and Tirunelveli, the police said.

The gang brings the drugs to Mandapam for further transportation to Lanka, they said, adding that information about the smuggling activity has been convey to the Customs Department and it was also closely monitoring the gang.