COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan national allegedly involved in a case related to seizure of 12.78kg heroin worth 12.8 crore in the international market, was arrested from the Chennai International airport by the Narcotics Control Bureau on August 13.
The accused was identified as 38-year-old Saravana Kumar alias Shetty alias Saravanan. The seizure was at Ramanathapuram bus stand in 2004. NCB officials said he was involved in smuggling of contraband items between Sri Lanka and India by boat through the Palk strait. Saravanan lived in a refugee camp in Ramanathapuram, officials said. Saravanan, who was part of a gang, was to arrive at the Ramanathapuram bus stop to collect the contraband.
However, he managed to give police the slip that day. He later escaped to Sri Lanka and after preparing a fake passport in the name of Muthu Maheshwaran, he went to Sweden in 2008 from Colombo, NCB officials said. He managed to acquire Swedish citizenship, the official added. Further investigations are on.
