The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its chargesheet against expelled DMK functionary and film producer Jaffer Sadiq accusing him of leading an international drug trafficking syndicate for more than a decade. According to the 250-page chargesheet, Jaffer laundered the profits through film productions and other business ventures such as dry fruit export, real estate, and more. The ED has now charged him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Jaffer, who was expelled from the DMK in February, was arrested on March 9 this year. The alleged kingpin is said to have smuggled ketamine and pseudoephedrine to Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand, disguising them as bangles, desiccated coconut, health mixes, magnesium sulphate, etc. At the time of his arrest, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had recovered 50 kg of pseudoephedrine from export companies linked to him. Pseudoephedrine is a chemical commonly found in over-the-counter cold medication that has been misused for the production of methamphetamine. According to the chargesheet, the Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (SIIB), Export also seized over 38 kg of ketamine. Another 50 kg of pseudoephedrine was seized by Chennai Customs previously.
The chargesheet says Jaffer spent at least Rs 6.3 crore of profits from narcotics trade for filmmaking alone. Another Rs 33 crore was allegedly found in various bank accounts linked to him and his family and over Rs 10 crore had been layered using a financier named Marimuthu.
Further, actor-director Ameer Sulthan has been named as accused No 12 in the chargesheet. Several members of Jaffer’s family, including his wife, father, and brothers, have been accused as well. Apart from acting as proxy owners of real estate bought with funds from drugs sales and holding bank accounts with profits from narcotics trade, their names were also used to generate International Export Codes (IECs), the ED says.
The cartel’s MO
The ED uncovered a total of six bemani companies for exporting drugs under the guise of food stuff or bangles or health mixes: Aventa Company, Ganesha Chemicals, Krishna Chemicals, Samy Stores, Cube Impex, and Sakthi Enterprises. These proxy companies were exporting drugs to nine different entities in Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Back in 2015, at the Air Cargo Complex (ACC) in Chennai, 76 bags marked as magnesium sulphate headed to Malaysia came under scan. Two of the bags showed anomalies and testing proved that the substance disguised as magnesium sulphate was actually pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (commonly called pseudoephedrine). The legal export of pseudoephedrine requires a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the NCB Commissioner.
In 2018, over 38 kg of ketamine was seized on the properties of five firms in Mumbai. The ketamine had allegedly been concealed in boxes containing bangles set for export to Kuala Lumpur.
Again this year, 50 kg of pseudoephedrine was seized, this time by the NCB in Delhi. The drug was found in three gunny bags marked as flour, waiting to be smuggled to Australia. This seizure would finally lead to Jaffer’s arrest.
Four of Jaffer’s aides in the cartel – Mukesh PU, Ashok Kumar, Mujeepur Rahaman R and Sathananatham – would allegedly scout for people in dire financial situations and take their identities on loan in exchange for small sums of money. These proxies would then be used to open bank accounts and rental agreements.
For communications, sim cards were issued to cartel members and destroyed after they had been used to install WhatsApp.
Further, a total of 21 ventures ranging from iron and steel to investment firms to dry fruit exports connected to Jaffer were uncovered. These companies were run for the sole purpose of laundering funds from the smuggling racket, the ED alleges, adding that neither Jaffer nor his accused family members had the expertise to operate such ventures.
A sprawling network
A total of 12 individuals are accused, including Jaffer. Mohammad Saleem, identified as Jaffer’s second in command, is directly accused in the smuggling of 38.867 kg of ketamine that was seized by customs officers in Mumbai.
Mukesh, the third accused, had been handling drugs for Jaffer for at least a decade. Accused no 4, Mujeepur, was in charge of finding proxies whose identities could be used to register export firms. Like Mukesh, he was also in charge of packing and disguising narcotics and facilitating their export.
SG Sathananatham, the fifth accused, had sent multiple consignments containing pseudoephedrine to Malaysia under proxy companies, the chargesheet says.
Accused no 7 Mydeen Gani, Jaffer’s younger brother, is another “key member” of the cartel, according to the ED. His activities allegedly extend across smuggling to laundering money through film production and real estate. The firm is one of the 21 ventures that the ED says were used to launder the cartel’s money.
Jaffer’s wife Ameena Banu (accused no 8) has been named as an accused for failing to raise suspicions regarding the cartel and allowing her bank accounts to be used to launder money and for acting as a proxy for real estate properties bought with drug money. Jaffer’s father Abdul Raheem Jinnah (accused no 9) served as the director of one of the cartel’s many properties where the drugs were packed.
But the most significant name in the list of other accused is Tamil actor-director Ameer Sulthan.
Drug money laundered in movie-making?
Profits made through drug smuggling were channelled as payments to directors, technicians, actors, and more, the chargesheet says, with at least Rs 6.3 crore used in filmmaking alone. Apart from Jaffer’s production house JSM Pictures that produced six films, another similarly named company named JSM Pictures (OPC) Private Limited stands out.
JSM Pictures (OPC), Jaffer told the ED, is a paper company “established to round trip the monies generated from movies”. However, the chargesheet notes that the company’s bank accounts have only one financial transaction. It was allegedly a payment of Rs 2 lakh to hugely popular music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja.
JSM Pictures has produced six movies, one of which is Iraivan Miga Periyavan, director Ameer’s fifth film that was supposed to release this year with director Vetrimaaran as the scriptwriter. Ameer allegedly claimed during interrogation that Jaffer had discussed fees with Vetrimaaran but had no further knowledge regarding this. The announcement also claims that the film’s music would be composed by Yuvan.
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