News
Narcotics smuggling on the rise via Lanka’s sea routes
Despite regular detection, Sri Lanka’s sea paths are increasingly being used by local and international narcotics traffickers, investigations have revealed.
The revelations came as latest statistics showed that most of the detections were made in operations at mid-sea.
Last year, 1594 Kg of heroin was detected in the country and of them 1.2 million Kg was in operations carried out by the Navy together with the Police or the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB).
330kg of heroin, was seized by the Navy in a special operation last week
Also on the increase in recent years has been the detection of synthetic drugs. Last year, 348,656 kilograms of synthetic drugs which included capsules and tablets were detected.
According to the Defence Ministry, several detections have also been made in international waters.
“Local fishermen in connivance with international traffickers have been involved in smuggling the drugs out of the country while a smaller amount was coming into the country,” the Defence Ministry Media and Liaison Officer, Colonel M.B.B. Nalin Herath, told the Sunday Times.
He said due to the reduction of surveillance in view of the COVID-19 situation, there had been an increase in the incidence of drug smuggling.
However, irrespective of the COVID-19 situation, the Navy continued its operations and made a string of detections and arrested several foreign nations at mid-sea. One such detection was made this week.
Colonel Herath said the detection was made possible because there had been an increase in the exchange of information with international intelligence agencies and, as a result, Sri Lanka had been getting a good flow of information leading to detections.
He said investigations indicated that in most recent cases, the heroin had come from Afghanistan via Pakistan and then smuggled into other countries via Sri Lanka’s sea routes. 
In last week’s special operation in international waters south of Sri Lanka, the Navy intercepted a local fishing trawler carrying more than 330kg of heroin, with a gross street value of more than Rs. 3,300 million.
Eleven locals were arrested and a local fishing vessel was detained.
The raid by the Navy officers serving in the Offshore Patrol Vessel SLNS Samudura came followed a coordinated intelligence operation by the Navy Intelligence, the State Intelligence Service and the Police Narcotics Bureau.
SLNS Samudura, after about two weeks of surveillance in international waters, intercepted the suspicious local fishing vessel on January 17, about 737 nautical miles (about 1364km) off the southern coast of Dondra.
The PNB also arrested five more suspects in a coastal village and is in search for more suspects. Information has also been received that the mastermind of the racket is based in Dubai.
Sri Lanka Navy has seized narcotics to the value of more than Rs. 15.8 billion during operations last year.
PNB Director Sampath Wijesekara told the Sunday Times Colombo, Gampaha, Negombo and Kandy had been identified as the main distribution centres for heroin, while several areas in the north had been identified as the main routes for cannabis smuggling from India.
The Senior Superintendent of Police said that since heroin was expensive, many youths, including students, were turning to synthetic drugs which were cheaper.
More than 46,000 suspects were arrested last year by various police units, the Navy and the customs. Of them, 22,154 were arrested for heroin-related cases. The Special Task Force arrested 504 suspects and the PNB 280. The rest of the arrests were made by police stations islandwide.
The PNB seized 6,842 Kg while the STF detected 51,000 Kg of heroin.
Last year also saw the detection of about 7.061 Kg of cannabis and the arrest of 19,265 suspects.
Also last year, Police also arrested 5,035 suspects for the possession of synthetic drugs.
The local fishing trawler (top) carrying the haul of heroin that was intercepted by the Patrol Vessel SLNS Samudura (above) last week. Pix by Priyanka Samaraweera
Police on Friday increased the rewards for information leading to detection of drugs.
Meanwhile, Navy statistics for the past 10 years reveal that the detections carried out by the Navy were on the rise.
In the base year 2011, the Navy detected 7,241 Kg of heroin,. A sharp increase was seen since 2018, the year in which the Navy detected 113,327 Kg. In 2019, it was 762,253 Kg in 2019 and 821,452 Kg in 2020. Last year, the detection led to the seizure of 1.2 million Kg of heroin.
In operations last year, the Navy took into custody 119 locals and 22 foreigners. intercepted
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!