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| Sunday, 4 December 2005 |
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War on drug menace heightened Crime Sunday by Jayampathy Jayasinghe The proliferation of heroin has assumed such alarming proportions that the new President Mahinda Rajapakse in the Mahinda Chintana has vowed to eradicate the drug menace. The government policy in eradicating drugs is now clearly stipulated in the Mahinda Chintana. The state will now mobilise its resources to combat this menace which had plagued the country for so long. A period of three years have been allotted to achieve this task. Police say that things are now hotting up for drug lords and traffickers after IGP Chandra Fernando declared war on them in keeping with the state policy. As usual it was a busy schedule for the top drug buster, Ananda Hettiarchchi, Director, Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) last week. He was in the midst of a seminar in Colombo when his cellular mobile phone rang. The caller at the other end was a top official from the Narcotics Control Board, Chennai. He knew Hettiarachichi well and had something urgent and important to tell him. The telephone call from the Indian Narcotics Control Board was regarding a Sri Lankan courier. It was a valuable piece of information regarding a Sri Lankan drug courier and a fugitive named Hilmi, who was wanted by the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) Sri Lanka. The Indian Narcotics Control Board (NCB) which has had close links with the Sri Lankan Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) usually passes important information to the PNB. This had been happening over the years. Both agencies often exchange valuable information regarding drug couriers that often cris cross the borders of the two countries. They also closely monitor the movements of couriers and their contacts. The Indian official which kept track of Hilmy throughout his stay in prison was able to tell his Sri Lankan counterpart that he was to be released from prison after serving a ten year sentence. Hilmy was to travel to Sri Lanka by Chennai - Colombo bound flight on November 27 around 10.p.m. He even described the clothes that Hilmy was wearing. Armed with credible information regarding a notorious drug courier they were looking for, SSP Ananda Hettiarachchi gave prompt instructions to his sleuths to rush to the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) that night and arrest Hilmy when he arrives at the passenger lounge. Several PNB officials that evening rushed to the BIA that day and took positions at vulnerable points to make sure the drug courier won't slip away. PNB sleuths waited anxiously with their fingers crossed for the Chennai - Colombo flight. The PNB team was led by a senior police officer. Finally when the flight arrived at the BIA around 11 p.m., sleuths kept a close watch on disembarking passengers. Finally they spotted Hilmy and his wife at the Immigration counter. Hilmy had even changed his clothes during the flight to dodge the police. The sleuths walked up to him and arrested him without any hassle. He was then hand cuffed and whisked away in a police vehicle under heavy armed escort. Incidently Hilmy was arrested almost ten years ago at the BIA on September 10,1988 by Customs officials after arriving on a flight from India. His attempt to smuggle in 1 kg and 12 grams of heroin was foiled. He was later handed over to the PNB for further investigations. The PNB produced the suspect before the Negombo Magistrate who remanded him till inquiries were completed. Meanwhile something unusual happened on October 26,1988. While Hilmy was being escorted to the National Hospital Colombo by the Prison authorities for treatment, he managed to escape from custody. Subsequently PNB sleuths came to know that Hilmy had left to India by boat from Mannar. They also came to know that he was living in Chennai. PNB then alerted the Indian Narcotics Control Board officials in Chennai to trace him. Meanwhile back in Sri Lanka suspect Hilmy was tried in absentia before the High Court Negombo and was sentenced to death on September 7,1993. The courts thereafter issued an open warrant for his arrest. The court order was later conveyed to the Narcotics Control Board in India, to seek their assistance to trace and apprehend him. In the meantime Hilmy was arrested in Chennai on December 21 1988 for possession of heroin and was convicted and sentenced to a ten year jail term by the Chennai courts. The proliferation of heroin has assumed such alarming proportions that the new President Mahinda Rajapakse in the Mahinda Chintana has vowed to eradicate the drug menace. The government policy in eradicating drugs is now clearly stipulated in the Mahinda Chintana. The state will now mobilise its resources to combat this menace which had plagued the country for so long. A period of three years have been allotted to achieve this task. Police say that things are now hotting up for drug lords and traffickers after IGP Chandra Fernando declared war on them in keeping with the state policy. According to Police Narcotics Bureau's (PNB) Director, SSP Ananda Hettiarachchi most drug dealers have gone underground or simply disappeared after learning the grip on them have been tightened. A recent survey shows a short fall of heroin owing to stocks not being released by drug dealers for fear of being confiscated. Police suspect that around 1020 kilos of heroin reach Sri Lanka but the bulk of it is re-smuggled to other countries. It is also revealed that a large amount of heroin is smuggled into uncleared areas and only a portion of it comes to the western coast. However things have now become easier to smuggle drugs from uncleared areas due to few Naval patrols in the Palk -strait. Police say that drug smuggling is rampant between the stretch of Mannar and Murunkan. The recent detection of 10 kilos of heroin (brown sugar variety) by the Sri Lanka Navy near the Kachchetive island is a case in point. An attempt made by two Indian fishermen to smuggle 10 kilos of heroin in dilapidated boat off the Kachchetive Island was foiled when they were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy. The couriers armed only with a cellular mobile phone were paid Rs 2,500 Indian currency to proceed to Kachchative island and hand over the stuff to some other boatmen. It had even become customary for drug lords to hire refugees from Sri Lanka to act as couriers for low sums of money. There were enough Sri Lankan refugees in places like Rameswaram and Tuticorin to act as couriers, police say. This year around 40 kilos of heroin was detected in Mannar alone. |
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