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Drug busting: Major joint sea op reveals nothing, but success on other fronts
View(s):In a 48-hour-long mission starting June 30, 100 law enforcement officers battled the rough seas off the coast of Kerawalapitiya. Their mission: To find a suspected consignment of heroin on board a vessel carrying liquid petrolium gas (LPG) to a local distributer.
Recent drug busting success stories at Orugodawatte (above) and in Madagal, Point Pedro. File pix
Officers from the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB), the coast guard, Sri Lanka Customs, Police Marine Division, the harbour police and the navy, carried out this drug busting joint operation, the first of its kind in the recent past. However, the officers failed to find any trace of the alleged heroin on board the vessel.
“An informant contacted us on Tuesday (30) evening, giving information about a shipment of heroin weighing 130 kilograms, being transported on board a gas carrier near the Kerawalapitiya shore. We acted on it by quickly alerting Customs, the Navy, the coast guard, the police marine division and the harbour,” a PNB officer told the Sunday Times.
The Navy surrounded the vessel while officers from the PNB and Customs attempted to board it. The prevailing sea conditions had however prevented the officials from boarding. A decision was reached and the Navy escorted the carrier to the Colombo harbour.
“Fifty officials searched the vessel but we could not find any trace of the drugs,” the official said. The official however admitted that if there were drugs on board they could have been destroyed before they reached it.”The vessel was enroute to discharge its cargo at an offshore LPG unloading point that conveys fuel to a gas storage terminal belonging to a gas company in Kerawalapitiya.
Meanwhile, the Colombo High Court will on Wednesday take up the case regarding the smuggling of 261 kilograms of heroin from Pakistan in 2013. In this case a former co-ordinating secretary of former Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratna had allegedly provided a letter seeking the speedy
clearance of a consignment which contained heroin, on the grounds that a high demurrage was being paid as the clearing of the consignment had been delayed.
The heroin was detected in a container lying at the Orugodawatte yard on August 30, 2013 .A PNB officer said that a statement had been obtained from the former co-ordinating secretary Keerthi Weerasinghe and submitted to the Attorney General’s Department.
“The secretary was approached by the company requesting the release of the container which had contained tins of grease. The container was being held up by customs and the importers made use of the friendship they had with the secretary,” the official said.
“He had claimed that he had no knowledge of the heroin, that had been carefully hidden inside the containers of grease.
“We will not be conducting any further investigation on the secretary, primarily because the evidence we had did not prove any link between him and the drugs,” the official added.
“Three individuals were however apprehended in connection with the incident, one of them is a Pakistani national,” the official said. “One of the suspects was later released after it was revealed that he was only the driver and had played no part in the smuggling of drugs,” the officer added.
Jamal Kasif Abdul, a Pakistani national was arrested by the authorities, when he had allegedly come to clear the container. Mohamed Kamik, alleged to be Jamal’s Sri Lankan contact was also arrested in connection with the incident.The two suspects are due to be produced in the High Court on Wednesday.
Jamal Kasif Abdul is one of many foreign nationals arrested by the Sri Lankan authorities in connection with smuggling heroin to the country. A twenty year old Pakistani national was nabbed at the Bandaranaike International Airport on Sunday (June 21) for the alleged possession of heroin. The man had arrived from Lahore via Dubai on flight EK348, Customs spokesperson Leslie Gamini told the Sunday Times.
“It was experience more than luck that led officials to arrest the man,” the PNB officer said.BIA officers who had noticed Bilal Muhammad behaving in a suspicious manner had detained him and admitted him to the Negombo Hospital under the supervision of Customs officials.
An X- ray revealed 34 capsules containing heroin in the man’s abdomen. “Three hundred and ninety one grams of heroin were detected on the suspect that day,” the officer said.Two other Pakistanis were also nabbed at the BIA for the alleged possession of drugs in two separate incidents this year. These suspects too had attempted to transport the drugs hidden in their abdomen.
Mohamed Sarva was arrested on April 27 this year at the BIA with 340 grams of heroin. The suspect had swallowed 34 capsules containing the drug, police said.
Twenty two year old Mohamed Bilal was nabbed at the BIA on May 29 this year while attempting to transport ten capsules containing 248 grams of heroin. The suspect had swallowed the capsules to avoid detection. Meanwhile police have uncovered a new tactic used by drug smugglers to slip in their products into the country, the PNB officer said.
“We have managed to uncover two cases where drugs like hashish were being sent into the country through air mail. The product is sent like any ordinary package and the receiver would come and collect it from the post office,” he said.Last month in two separate drug busts, 1.98 kilograms of hashish was detected in a package while it was being transported to Hikkaduwa and 987 grams of hashish was detected while it was being transported to Wellampitiya.