News
Drug smuggling mounts; so do many questions
Questions are being asked whether sufficient action was taken to apprehend one of the main culprits involved in the second biggest drug detection in the country, after a Pakistani national last week evaded arrest over the smuggling of 36 kilograms of heroin with a street value of Rs. 350 million,
According to police the suspect who had identified himself as Muhammad Ajaz of Karachchi had arrived in Sri Lanka on February 20 – a week before the contraband concealed in a 40ft container, declared as garment accessories, arrived in the country.
A heroin detection: Sri Lanka fast becoming an Intl hub for drug smuggling. (file pic)
The consignee, on March 6, had called over at the local shipping agent to collect documents to clear the goods. Meanwhile the Customs had already been tipped off about the drug haul.
Customs officials say they dispatched one of their officers to the shipping agent in Kollupitya after alerting the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB), but the suspect had already left after collecting the documents, thereby evading possible arrest. The PNB denies that the Customs had alerted them.
The PNB claimed they had sent a team to Orugodawatta where the drugs were detected.Police on Friday were still unaware of the suspect’s whereabouts amidst revelations that the Pakistani had used a false passport that had lapsed in 2010 to obtain the documents from the shipping agent and had probably used a second one to enter the country.
“We were not aware that the Customs were looking for this person. We released the documents accordingly,” Wazni Hussain, Manager (Sales), ECU Line Lanka (Pvt ) Ltd, the local shipping agent told the Sunday Times. Mr. Hussain and three others were questioned by the 
Customs and released.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Customs Parakrama Basnayaka said they were continuing their investigation into the detection.
As one of the biggest opportunities to track down a main suspect was lost, police claim that one of the top local drug smugglers Ajith Kumara alias Devundara Thamil was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) last Saturday.
Police said the suspect, who has several hotels under his name, owns other properties, 10 boats and luxury vehicles in the South, was on his way back home from Singapore when he was arrested.
Police said he was wanted in connection with a murder, but subsequent inquiries revealed that he was also linked to a Liberian drug trafficker. A person believed to be an agent of Ajith Kumara was also arrested with 10 kilograms of heroin.
Meanwhile, a string of major cases including the one related to the biggest detection of heroin– 261 kilograms—being smuggled in by a Pakistani national, 30 kilos being smuggled in by a Liberian national and another where heroin was found in oranges, were still pending with detainees being held on Detention Orders.
These recent detections come in the wake of reports that Sri Lanka was fast becoming an international hub with drugs being smuggled in and out of the country.
| SL Customs and police team in Pakistan for talksA high level delegation comprising Customs and Police officials from Sri Lanka left for Pakistan this week to hold discussions with their counterparts on measures to prevent trafficking of drugs between the two countries, officials said.
The team will travel to some of the areas including areas bordering Afghanistan from where a majority of the drugs are smuggled into the country. “One of the objectives of the visit is to study various methods used by smugglers to bring the drugs into the country,” a senior Customs officer said. He said ways on how to improve sharing of information gathered by intelligence services would also be discussed More than 300 kilograms of heroin smuggled into the country was detected last year by Sri Lanka Customs, while Pakistani authorities have averted more than over 400 kilos of heroin being smuggled into Sri Lanka. |