Chinese THREAT to southern India is for real

Once a frequent landing spot for Sri Lankan smugglers who traded opium for beedis and tobacco, the Kodikkarai fishing port in Tamil Nadu is today being used for a deadlier purpose -- arms trade.

Smugglers are now bringing in arms -- with Chinese help -- and channelising them into northern Kerala.

The recent detaining of MV Seaman Guard Ohio, the US-owned ship accused of illegally entering Indian waters with a huge cache of weapons, has once again tested India’s fragile coastal security apparatus.

Prior to this, various agencies have been looking at the illegal passage of vessels which are allegedly smuggling in arms from Sri Lanka and ferrying them to Kerala.
 
A major part of this operation has been traced near Nagapattinam at the end of the Salt Pan area of Kodikkarai fishing port.

Preliminary investigations have found that the smuggling of arms and ammunition is being carried out with the help of Chinese agents who facilitate the mafia and smugglers who are settled in Sri Lanka.

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The National Investigation Agency, which is hot on the terror trail in Kerala, is trying to find out if the arms that have reached the state came through this channel. There is a considerable amount of weapons that have been stocked up in northern Kerala, especially at Udumalapet and the Karur forest areas.

At first, the NIA believed that it was Pakistan which supplied the arms and ammunition, but investigations showed that the route was too long and risky. Today, the Chinese angle appears more plausible.

Central intelligence agencies tell rediff.com that over the past few years there has been a considerable increase in the number of Chinese settlements in southern India. Across Tamil Nadu, especially in the rural areas, there are approximately 170 Chinese who have taken up odd jobs.

An intelligence report states that the Chinese are trying to set up a base in southern India and would look to attack India through this part of the country. There are several elements in Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu who are more than willing to help stock these arms and ammunition and the agents either pay them in kind or cash.

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An Intelligence Bureau report had in the past suggested that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba had set up a base in Sri Lanka after the fall of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. But the group never carried out any operation.

Now, intelligence officials believe that there was always a Chinese presence in Sri Lanka.

They say that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, which guides the Lashkar, is operating in tandem with the Chinese agents and the Sri Lankan mafia controlled by a major political family to supply arms into India through Tamil Nadu.

Some officers in Tamil Nadu claim that the present state government is serious about putting an end to this problem. Addressing the problem could be complicated as it involves suspected political connections in Tamil Nadu which facilitate such an operation.

An IB official said, “It is now very important to beef up security along the coasts. There have been so many incidents in which ships have drifted into Indian waters illegally and more one looks into it, it appears to be intentional and not a mistake.”