Former DMK leader arrested in ₹2,000 crore international drugs trafficking case

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested former DMK functionary Jaffer Sadiq in Delhi on Saturday, in connection with a ₹2,000 crore international drugs trafficking case. The central agency has termed Sadiq the "mastermind and kingpin" of the illicit network spread across India, Australia and New Zealand.

Sadiq, a producer of Tamil films, was recently expelled by the DMK from the party after the NCB stated that he was linked to the drugs network. He was the Chennai West deputy organiser of the DMK's NRI wing. The opposition BJP and AIADMK in the state have been targeting the DMK over the matter.

Last month, the NCB said it had arrested three people, all hailing from Tamil Nadu, and seized 50 kg of narcotics-making chemical pseudoephedrine during a raid at a godown in Delhi. The searches by the NCB, along with the special cell of the Delhi Police, came about following a tip-off received towards the end of 2023 from the Australian and New Zealand authorities about "large quantities" of pseudoephedrine concealed in desiccated coconut powder and mix food powder being smuggled into their countries from India.


An additional input from the US Drug Enforcement Administration indicated that the source of these consignments was in the national capital, the NCB had said in a statement. The three arrested persons allegedly said that a total of 45 pseudoephedrine consignments were sent by them over the past three years, containing about 3,500 kg of pseudoephedrine valued at more than ₹2,000 crore in the international market, as per the NCB. The NCB had been looking for Sadiq since then to "ascertain the source" of the seized pseudoephedrine and had also raided his premises in Chennai recently.