Sharp drop in heroin inflow

By Jayampathy Jayasinghe

There is a drastic drop in the flow of heroin in the country following increased sea patrols deployed in the Palk Straits last year to counteract arms smuggling operations by terrorist groups, police sources told the "Sunday Observer".

The Police, Excise, Customs, and Armed Services detected eight kilograms of heroin last year. Police even tipped off the Maldivian authorities last year when they detected a drug courier carrying seven kilograms of heroin to the Maldives via Sri Lanka.

Two Bills 267 and 268 were introduced in Parliament last year to deal with synthetic drugs in the country and also to rehabilitate persons hooked on dangerous drugs. When these Bills are enacted in parliament police and other law enforcement agencies will have wide powers to deal with these type of drugs. However at present there is a lacuna in law with regard to synthetic drugs, police sources said.

According to police sources South Asian countries such as Burma, Thailand, Laos and even Australia are inundated with synthetic drugs and youth have become victims of these drugs as they are freely available.

In Sri Lanka synthetic drugs such as ecstasy were detected in several five star hotels and night clubs in Colombo in the recent past. It had been found that betel leaves such as Babul, Pan-Parag and Hanz that includes tobacco flakes and aromatic spices are sold near schools to entice school children. "This will eventually lead children to get hooked on dangerous drugs, police said.

[email protected]