Thrissur: The Thrissur Police have arrested a woman in connection with a cross-border synthetic drug trafficking case from Haryana. The accused, Seema Sinha (52), a native of Bihar residing in Fazilpur, Gurugram district of Haryana, is suspected to be the financial controller of an international drug cartel.

Seema was a teacher before she became the syndicate’s key financial handler.

The arrest is linked to a case on February 28, when two youths from Chavakkad, Fazal and Nezil, were caught with 47 grams of synthetic drugs at Thrissur Railway Station. Their interrogation led investigators to Bharat, a Karnataka native operating out of Kammanahalli in Bengaluru. 

Further questioning revealed that the drug network was operating from the Delhi-Haryana border, with proceeds being funnelled into a bank account in Gurugram registered under Seema Sinha’s name.

Under the directive of Thrissur City Police Commissioner R Ilango IPS, a special team led by Assistant Commissioner Saleesh N Sankaran and East Inspector M J Jijo was sent to Haryana. The team discovered that Seema was managing multiple bank accounts used for laundering drug money across India. 

With the help of the local authorities and special intervention by the Thrissur Police Commissioner, Seema was apprehended and brought to Kerala for questioning.

During interrogation, it was revealed that Seema had close ties with a four-member African drug smuggling ring operating mainly in Delhi and Haryana. Her association with the syndicate began when she started tutoring the children of a Nigerian national involved in the trade. She later became the gang’s trusted financial manager, receiving a monthly salary of ₹1 lakh for handling their accounts.

Reports indicate that over ₹20 crores was funnelled through her accounts in just one year, with around ten bank accounts used to distribute drug money across India.

The investigation team also included Sub Inspector Raghu Subrahmanian, Civil Police Officers P Harish Kumar, V B Deepak, M S Ajmal, V B Lisha, and M C Anjitha.