New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a man and recovered a huge cache of cash, gold and drugs as it carried out searches in Tamil Nadu in a case related to an Indo-Sri Lankan illegal drugs and arms trade racket aimed at the revival of the terror group LTTE, an official said on Friday.

Ayyappan Nandhu was arrested during the raids conducted at the residential and business premises of eight suspects in Chennai on Thursday, taking the number of people held in the case so far to 14, a spokesperson of the NIA said.

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The agency had initiated investigations into the racket in July last year.

Thirteen people were arrested by it in December as part of its raids conducted in 21 locations in Tamil Nadu. The earlier raids had included the accommodation allotted to nine accused in a special detention camp in Trichy.

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"Investigations into the case have shown that the proceeds of drugs and arms trade in Sri Lanka were received in India through hawala agents, including one Shahid Ali of Chennai. It was further found that the hawala transactions to obtain the proceeds of drugs and arms trade were done through hotels and businesses based in Mannadi, Chennai,” the spokesperson said.

The official said Thursday's seizure included Rs 68 lakh in Indian currency and 1000 Singapore dollars, nine gold biscuits weighing total 300 gram from the shop of Shahid Ali. Rs 12 lakh in Indian currency was recovered from the Orange Palace hotel in Chennai.

"Nandhu has been found to be managing the drug trade on behalf of Muhammed Asmin, a Sri Lankan refugee and a drug trafficker who had conspired with other accused to revive LTTE through drugs and arms trade,” the spokesperson said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)