Indian intelligence agencies have warned of a new alliance between a crime syndicate named Dawood Ibrahim syndicate and remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a former Sri Lankan rebel group, Indian media outlet Diya TV reported.
The crime syndicate is allegedly exploiting routes through southern India and Sri Lanka to rebuild its narcotics trade after crackdowns in western and northern India, Diya TV said.
For LTTE-linked elements, the arrangement offers a financial lifeline amid leadership gaps and funding shortages, Diya TV said. The LTTE was defeated militarily in Sri Lanka in 2009.
Officials quoted in the report said a wholesale revival of the LTTE’s separatist insurgency remains unlikely, but cautioned that legacy logistics endure, Diya TV said.
The syndicate’s capital and international reach, combined with the LTTE’s coastal know-how along the Palk Strait, could ease movement of contraband into southern India and beyond, security sources warned.
Over decades, the LTTE was accused of using drug revenues and laundering proceeds through overseas businesses, within segments of the Tamil diaspora, said the report. (Xinhua)
