Pakistani national Zubair Derakshshandeh, who was arrested in a joint operation of the Indian Navy and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on 12 May, in what is believed to be the largest ever drug haul off the Kerala coast, used to be paid Rs 5 lakh per trip he undertook with the mothership, reports the Indian Express.

Zubair was arrested with 132 bags of methamphetamine, weighing 2525 kilograms, while he was trying to flee from the sinking mothership. The seized methamphetamine is estimated to be worth Rs 25000 crore.

According to the report, Zubair worked for a businessman close to Haji Salim, who used to process drugs sourced from Afghanistan at his labs in Balochistan.

Zubair would then sail with consignments of drugs on a mothership to various destinations like India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and countries in Africa. He would then hand over the consignments to people who would approach the ship in small boats and provide him a code.

According to a report by IANS, Salim has been linked to terror organisations like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and money from the drug trafficking was reaching Pakistan from Dubai through the hawala route.

Meanwhile, as per a report in Onmanorama, NCB officials have said that a multilevel money-chain model of marketing is prevalent in the state.

Under this model, if a person who cannot afford the drugs approaches a seller, he would be offered 30 per cent commission for introducing three persons. When these persons actually make a purchase, he is offered the drugs he wanted.

Further, if he is able to introduce a fourth person, who purchases a certain amount of drugs, he would receive the same amount of drugs purchased by the person for free, saysa

In March 2021, near Kerala’s Vizhinjam port, the Indian defence forces had intercepted a boat that contained 300 kg of heroin, five AK-47 machine guns, and 1,000 rounds of 9 mm bullets.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) subsequently arrested nine persons from a camp for Sri Lankan refugees in Tiruchirapalli in connection with the case.

All of them were allegedly hand in glove with Salim. They aimed to revive the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organization using the proceeds of crime.