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Customs-drug traffickers face off as more ‘stuff’ gets through despite rise in detections
View(s):The detection of drugs at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) has been on the rise, with one of the biggest detections being made two weeks ago.
On October 4, BIA Customs officials apprehended four Sri Lankans, (three women and a man) coming from Chennai, carrying 93 kg of heroin valued at Rs 50 million, hidden among sealed packets of spices bought in India.
Customs/BIA Spokesman Leslie Gamini said the packets drew the Custom officers’ attention because it was unusually pasted, unlike the normal packed spices. He said there were five 500 gm packets in all which totaled up to 2.5 kg.
The packets were in the possession of one of the women (60) and her male accomplice, while there were two other woman accomplices with them.
On June 21, a man had attempted to smuggle in 390 gm of heroin pellets which he had swallowed. Customs officials had him admitted to Negombo hospital to retrieve the pellets.
On August 3, an unaccompanied consignment of wire mesh addressed to four Pakistani nationals in Sri Lanka was detected carrying drugs cleverly concealed in the hollow wire mesh.
The drug is still being retrieved from the mesh, with 590 gm already retrieved Mr Gamini said, while they are awaiting legal advice to continue retrieving the entire consignment in the mesh.
According to the law, being in possession of 2 gm or more renders a person liable to prosecution.
In another incident, in September Customs officers detected heroin worth Rs 2.5 million in the form of 200 gm chocolate slabs.
In total the Customs have detected 6 kg of heroin this year in four attempts. In 2014, 130.96 kg of heroin were detected, while in 2013 it was 293 kg.
Director General Customs, R. Semasinghe said the detections were possible because of his officials’ vigilance. He said the latest recruits have been trained in the UK and India, to detect smuggling into the country.
He said the ARRIVALS section at the BIA is manned round the clock by two Customs officials, and they are very good at ‘reading’ the body language of passengers. “The Customs Dept is recruiting around 150 more officials for the job,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dangerous Drugs Control Board (DDCB) Chairman, Dr Nilanga Samarasinghe expressed his satisfaction with the Customs officers’ performance.
He said the new recruits are energetic and honest, and are doing a good job in detecting smugglers.
However, he lamented the numbers deployed at the ARRIVALS gates are insufficient. “Only two officers are stationed at one time. This is not enough, considering the thousands of arrivals,” he said.
Dr Samarasinghe said that despite the increase in detections, nearly 90% of the smuggling goes undetected. He said that metal detectors cannot detect drugs, hence, only human perception can help detect the smuggler.
Meanwhile, Police Spokesman Assistant Superintendent Ruwan Gunasekera said the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) have been very efficient at detecting and apprehending drug smugglers and peddlers.
PNB statistics from January to March indicate that 5 kg, 488 gm and 665 mg of heroin, and 94 kg and 990 gm of cannabis have been detected in 47 heroin cases and 5 canabis cases.
In the first three months of 2015, 61 heroin traffickers and 5 cannabis traffickers have been apprehended. (CC)