CHENNAI: A 50-year-old man from Theni, who had already spent 11 years in prison, has been sentenced to 12 more yearsbehind bars.
Chelladurai, who was earlier imprisoned for peddling drugs in Madurai and burglary in Coimbatore, is now convicted of smuggling 392 kg of ganja on the city’s outskirts.
His arrest in September 2018 made national headlines after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) nabbed him in a midnight car chase on Chennai-Tada national highway near Red Hills.Chelladurai, who was smuggling the massive haul of drugs from Annavaram in Andhra Pradesh to Cumbum in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, used a car with fake vehicle registration to cross the inter-state border.
Based on a tip-off, NCB sleuths intercepted the vehicle near Karanodai toll plaza.
But Chelladurai tried to escape by speeding towards Red Hills. This resulted in a car chase and in a matter of few minutes, Chelladurai lost control and rammed into a central median at Thiruvallur-Koot Road junction.
NCB officials found nearly 200 packets and bags of ganja concealed in fishing nets and plywood sheets.
While he was arrested, another person in the car escaped.
During inquiry, Chelladurai told the investigating officers that he was trafficking ganja based on the directions of a man identified as Eswaran, who is suspected to have run a smuggling network in the southern states.
When the case came up for hearing at a special court in Chennai for trial of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases, the NCB counsel while submitting corroborative evidences, said that Chelladurai was already convicted by Madurai district court for smuggling ganja in 2000.
Though the accused said it was a foisted case, the court found him guilty, and he will undergo 12 year rigorous imprisonment and pay ₹1,20,000 as fine.
“People dealing in narcotic drugs are instruments in inflicting death blow to a number of innocent young victims who are vulnerable,” said judge J Juliet Pushpa.
Chelladurai, who was earlier imprisoned for peddling drugs in Madurai and burglary in Coimbatore, is now convicted of smuggling 392 kg of ganja on the city’s outskirts.
His arrest in September 2018 made national headlines after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) nabbed him in a midnight car chase on Chennai-Tada national highway near Red Hills.Chelladurai, who was smuggling the massive haul of drugs from Annavaram in Andhra Pradesh to Cumbum in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, used a car with fake vehicle registration to cross the inter-state border.
Based on a tip-off, NCB sleuths intercepted the vehicle near Karanodai toll plaza.
But Chelladurai tried to escape by speeding towards Red Hills. This resulted in a car chase and in a matter of few minutes, Chelladurai lost control and rammed into a central median at Thiruvallur-Koot Road junction.
NCB officials found nearly 200 packets and bags of ganja concealed in fishing nets and plywood sheets.
While he was arrested, another person in the car escaped.
During inquiry, Chelladurai told the investigating officers that he was trafficking ganja based on the directions of a man identified as Eswaran, who is suspected to have run a smuggling network in the southern states.
When the case came up for hearing at a special court in Chennai for trial of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases, the NCB counsel while submitting corroborative evidences, said that Chelladurai was already convicted by Madurai district court for smuggling ganja in 2000.
Though the accused said it was a foisted case, the court found him guilty, and he will undergo 12 year rigorous imprisonment and pay ₹1,20,000 as fine.
“People dealing in narcotic drugs are instruments in inflicting death blow to a number of innocent young victims who are vulnerable,” said judge J Juliet Pushpa.