Acting on a tip-off about drugs being smuggled through the sea from Nagapattinam to Sri Lanka, officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) seized mescaline worth ₹6 crore and arrested three persons on late Sunday.
The police said the intelligence unit received information late on Saturday about a planned consignment being moved through the coastal stretch. A team rushed to Velankanni in Nagapattinam district and kept a watch near the Velankanni Basilica. The officials found three men standing in a suspicious manner at a car parking area belonging to the Basilica and detained them for questioning.
A subsequent search revealed that the three were in possession of 2 kg of mescaline, a synthetic hallucinogenic drug, allegedly meant to be smuggled by boat to Sri Lanka. The seized contraband is estimated to be worth ₹6 crore in the international market, the police said.
Those arrested were identified as Ravichandran, 40, of Puthiya Nambiyar Nagar, also the West district secretary of Hindu Makkal Katchi,; Anandharaj, 33, of the fishermen’s colony in the tsunami rehabilitation settlement at Poompuhar in Mayiladuthurai district; and Murugan alias Kanjinathan, 31 , of Thummachi Street, Pushpavanam, near Vedaranyam.
Cases have been registered against the accused under three sections of the relevant narcotics laws. The three were taken to the Nagapattinam Government Medical College Hospital for medical examination and were later produced before a Judicial Magistrate, the police said.
Published – December 22, 2025 08:24 pm IST
