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Major drug cases to be probed again
All investigations regarding smuggling of narcotics during the past two years will be reopened, Public Order Minister John Amaratunga said yesterday.
“I have ordered the Inspector General of Police to send me a progress report of all investigations regarding the cases of drug detections. We are not happy about the progress of these cases,” the new minister said.
He said that among the investigations to be resumed would be the detection of 260 kilograms of heroin in 2012 – a case in which a coordinating Secretary of former Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne had issued a letter to clear the container that carried the heroin.
The Sunday Times learns that the Police Narcotics Bureau has sent a report about this detection to the Attorney General’s Department, but no one has been indicted so far.
Minister Amaratunga said that part of the new probe would be to find out why
the investigations in the cases had been delayed. During the past two years more than 400 kilograms of heroin have been detected at the Colombo Port – a sharp increase in the number of detections.
The minister’s directive came as Police were interrogating Wele Sudha, one of the main drug smugglers who was arrested in Pakistan and brought to Sri Lanka. The suspect owns assets including two houses on Bagatale road, Kollupitiya and one in Cinnamon Gardens area. His assets have already been frozen.