Tug-of-war for LTTE drug cartel

Following the LTTE Leader Prabhakaran's death, a massive tug-of-war is on in the drug world to grab his multi-million dollar drug cartel. Several other gangs are looking to take over the syndicate, which has corporate-like operations, an Indian official said.

Narcotics experts believe the LTTE arranged funds for its terror activities by smuggling drugs from Sri Lanka to European and American countries. According to experts, the LTTE also supplied drugs to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The LTTE's drug smuggling business was worth about $200-300 million. The outfit procured most of its consignments, largely heroin, from the Golden Crescent -spread over Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, via Indian routes.

"The LTTE had joined hands with other terrorist outfits involved in drug smuggling in neighboring countries. The Tigers got their supply from outfits that operate from PoK. So the outfits that earlier supplied drugs to the LTTE will try to spread tentacles in the market that earlier belonged to LTTE," a senior Narcotics Control Bureau official said