Heroin worth 6 crore seized off Tuticorin coast, seven held

Nearly six kilograms of heroin meant to be smuggled into Sri Lanka was seized from a boat off the coast here, and seven persons including four Sri Lankan nationals have been arrested in this connection, customs officials said today.

All the accused were arrested yesterday and had been remanded to judicial custody today, they said.

Acting on a tip-off that heroin was being smuggled through Tuticorin coast, a team of officials kept a close vigil from Vembar to Therespuram, on Sunday evening.

They then intercepted a boat which was found moving in a suspicious manner off Therespuram coast and recovered six kg of heroin worth Rs six crore from it, the officials said.

Rexon, Ashokumar and Santhiagu were apprehended.

During interrogation, the trio had told that the Sri Lankans would come and collect the contraband mid sea.

Later, the customs sleuths, in the guise of traders had ventured into the sea and nabbed the Sri Lankan buyers, they added.

However, the officials declined to reveal the names of the four Sri Lankan Tamils.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)