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The narcotics situation in Sri Lanka is serious, says STF Chief
A two-year-old case where the navy and police arrested an Iranian trawler carrying 101 kilograms of heroin is dragging on because the accused have retained senior lawyers who keep challenging the navy in open court citing legal technicalities, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne said this week.
“We catch all these people who have two milligrams or two grams of heroin,” he said, during the question-and-answer session at a seminar titled ‘Transnational Organised Crime in Sri Lanka: Dark Side of the Hub’ at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS). “Sri Lanka is a country where if someone is in possession of two grams or more (of heroin), the death penalty can be imposed. In that case, we can have at least 20,000 getting the death penalty.”
“But, as you rightly said, we are not catching the big ones,” he continued, responding to an audience member. “You can’t catch them without proper intelligence.” The Iranian trawler—which originated at Pasanbandar Harbour and visited Maldives before entering Sri Lankan waters—was “caught red handed”.
“With 101kgs, I would say they should get at least 100 times the death penalty,” Admiral Wijegunaratne said. “But the case is still going. Why? One reason. Under our system, in the open court, our officers are being challenged. The naval officer who is there is being challenged by a President’s Counsel.”
“So when the President’s Counsel appears, he brings some sort of technical problem or evidence collection problem,” he said. “Now this case is dragging on for the last two years, even after catching. We can’t do this.”
The seminar was organised by BCIS to spread knowledge about the impact of transnational organised crime in Sri Lanka as the country develops as a maritime hub. The crimes include counterfeiting, drugs, arms and human smuggling and illegal mining and wildlife trade.
The vastness of the ocean was the biggest challenge to any country devising a complete maritime strategy to counter all transnational crimes, said Captain Rohan Joseph from the CDS’s staff. “No navy is capable of monitoring every square kilometre of ocean so that leads to many lightly monitored and governed areas which transnational crime networks take advantage of.”
Sri Lanka is completely blind to what is taking place below the sea’s surface, Captain Joseph said. “We do not know exactly who is there and doing what. We do not know if a submarine is closer to Colombo harbour and gathering information because we are not capable. This leads to maritime blindness and that is one area we have to concentrate on if we are to formulate and promote a maritime strategy which at least would serve us in combating transnational crime to a certain extent.”
Captain Joseph also said that, in Sri Lanka, the relevant stakeholders do not share information or intelligence. “The bottom line is, despite advances we have made in technology, sensors, platforms, etcetera, the ocean will always pose a great challenge unless we come up with a practical solution or strategy to minimise or eradicate threats.”
Sri Lankans must understand the changing nature of its maritime environment, Captain Joseph urged. “Since 2009, we don’t have a visible enemy at sea and that can make issues complicated,” he explained. “When you can see somebody, it is easy to shoot. But when you don’t have somebody, you think our seas are safe so that’s another challenge.” The navy’s role was gradually changing from a defensive role to a constabulary one.
According to the Dangerous Drugs Control Board, around 250,000 Sri Lankans were addicted to drugs as at last year. Of these, 50,000 were hooked on heroin. “At the rate of 3-5mgs a day, you will know the annual consumption,” Captain Joseph said. “But we receive much more than that. And it shows that we are turning into a very famous hub.”
He cited both the case of the Iranian trawler and the arrest of a container last year with 220kgs of cocaine inside. The vessel that transported the second had started from Brazil and gone through the Port of Lisbon, Portugal. The scenario was complex, Captain Joseph said. A Customs officer at the seminar said cocaine commonly came to Sri Lanka from Brazil, synthetic drugs from India and heroin from Afghanistan.
Sri Lanka is considered both a transit and source point along the larger South and South East Asian smuggling routes, said Senior DIG M R Latiff, Commandant of the Special Task Force. “The narcotics situation in Sri Lanka is serious,” he asserted, adding that this was underscored by the increased number of detections by law enforcement.
With the granting of visa-on-arrival to SAARC visitors, and the relaxation of borders, there was an increase in South Asians engaging in narcotics business in Sri Lanka.
But the prisons system was also a problem. “Other countries have corrections systems,” DIG Latiff said. “We have prisons systems. When a drug addict goes to prison, he comes out with a PhD in narcotics.” Also, in March, from the cell of a particular condemned prisoner, there were 3,950 outgoing calls and 360 incoming calls.
“And there are legal constraints,” he elaborated. “This includes lack of exclusive courts to hear organised crime cases and a lack of exclusive statutes. When such criminals are caught, so many legal luminaries appear for such cases. The police cannot employ equally qualified counsel. We can have expertise from the Attorney General’s Department if they are indicted in higher courts.”
“When a criminal is represented by legal luminaries in the field, the police officer, who is perhaps A/Level qualified, is not equipped enough to face his opponent,” he said. “It’s a President’s Counsel or Queen’s Counsel versus an A/Level qualified police officer.”
Defence Secretary Kapila Waidyaratne delivered the keynote address. The other speakers were the head of Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team Rohana Palliyaguru and Scott Matheson, Home Affairs Minister Counsellor/Regional Director Australia.