Banana cultivators were ganja dealers

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Hambegamuwa is a sleepy town located in the periphery of the Uva Province bordering the Southern Province. The village has woken up from its slumber following vast seizures of Ganja (cannabis sativa) during the past few months. Dried ganja is a potent and a destructive drug prepared from ganja plants grown in the jungles at Arabekema and Hambegamuwa. Infact, these villages had become notorious owing to ganja cultivation. And the inhabitants of Thanamalvila and Hambegamuwa had been wary and perturbed over the presence of drug kingpins in their villages. They also feared that their children might succumb to Ganja smoking.

The modus operandi of the drug kingpins was to pose off as farmers cultivating bananas and maize in these villages. But that was only a cover according to police. They had come from the neighbouring villages to cultivate ganja, a cash crop that has great demand in Colombo.

Meanwhile, with the ending of the separatist terrorist war, policemen have been mobilised to eradicate the drug menace plaguing the country. This was in keeping with the Mathata Thitha policy of the Mahinda Chinthana. Several ganja plantations in Hambegamuwa have been raided and destroyed in the past. However, despite heavy fines and jail terms being imposed on suspects, ganja trade has thrived owing to the demand. Statistics show that 18,219 kilograms of cannabis was detected in 2006 by the law enforcement agencies.

Alarmed by the growth and expansion of ganja plantations, the villagers of Thanamalwila and Hambegamuwa had petitioned the Presidential Secretariat that underworld men were involved in cultivation of ganja. They said they feared their presence in the villages. The petitioners also stated that unknown men were sighted in their remote villages travelling about in luxury vehicles. The villagers were apprehensive that proliferation of ganja would lure their children to drugs.

When the petitions were referred to IGP Jayantha Wickramaratna to take steps to eradicate the drug menace he referred the matter to DIG Staff, D.A de Fonseka in charge of the Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF). Following a briefing to Director of the Central Anti Vice Striking Force (CAVSF) Superintendent of Police, D.R.L. Ranawera a team of CAVSF sleuths were despatched to Hambegamuwa and Thanamalwila to collect information on illicit ganja plantations. The men were briefed to pose off as labourers and hob nob with the villagers. Having remained at Hambegamuwa and Thanamalvila for nearly a week, the CAVSF men learnt that persons from Middeniya, Walasmulla, Tangalle, Hambantota, Embilipitiya, Udawalave were employed at these ganja plantations. There were around 20 such men employed as labourers in the ganja plantations. Due to mistrust the drug kingpins never employed locals at ganja plantations. They preferred outsiders from other areas whom they could rely upon. The newly recruited labourers were employed in banana plantations before being sent to work in ganja plantations. This was done when they proved trustworthy to their masters. The CAVSF men also learnt that those employed at ganja plantations were provided with firearms and cartridges. Furthermore, even muzzle loading guns were set up en-route to the Ganja plantations to prevent law enforment men intrduing into their territory.

Meanwhile, the DIG Staff, D.A. de Fonseka and Director CAVSF, Superintendent of Police D.R.L. Ranaweera were satisfied with the information they gathered at Hambegamuwa and Thanamalvila. They decided to raid the plantations and destroy the crops. It was on July 18 around 8 p.m. when two teams comprising of CAVSF officers led by Superintendent of Police D.R.L. Ranaweera, Inspector Duminda Balasooriya, Sub Inspector Samarakoon, PS 63219 Karunaratne, PS 15054 Premasiri, PC 8894 Kularatne, PC 54885 Samantha, PC 38664 Rangana, PC 76176 Sathis Kumara, PC 61659 Shanker, PC 40923 Wijesinghe, PC 76829 Ratnayake, PC 66086 Madushanker, PC 2244 Rodrigo, PC 13710 Malawaarachchi, PCD 76126 Perusinghe left to Hambegamuwa in two vehicles.

The CAVSF policemen posing off as pilgrims, arrived at Hambegamuwa around 4 a.m. and took refuge in a temple. Thereafter, the policemen, who earlier surveyed the Ganja plantation were told to penetrate deep into the jungle and signal when labourers came to work at the plantation. The men proceeded on foot 2.5 kilometres into the jungle towards Pingalwewa. When they arrived at a lusciously grown ganja plantation a signal was beamed via a cellular phone to send more reinforcements to raid the plantation. Later when reinforcements arrived they raided the plantation and took into custody a man possessing a shot gun with three cartridges. There were two fully grown ganja plantations each with a half acreage. Following the discovery three suspects, who worked as labourers were taken into custody. They were young men natives of Middeniya and Embilipitiya. The mastermind taken into custody was a businessman from Hambegamuwa. Thereafter, ganja plants numbering up to 25,000 in a three acre plantation were uprooted and set on fire. A few uprooted ganja plants were taken to be produced in court.

Thereafter, the CAVSF party proceeded to Arabekema in Thanamalwila area. From the Arabekema junction they further proceeded 13 kilometres in to the Unakande jungle and found luxuriously grown ganja plants in a four-acre plot. Around 40,000 ganja plants that measured up to 5-7 feet in height were uprooted and destroyed. Following the discovery the father of the chief suspects was taken into custody with 220 kilograms of dried ganja worth Rs. 9 lakhs inside a tent. The dried up ganja was to be transported to Colombo. The price of 1 kilogram of dried ganja was sold around Rs. 7,000, CAVSF said. Meanwhile, a nursery with 26,000 ganja plants was also discovered about two kilometres away from the plantation. Around 500 ganja plants were taken as production to be produced in courts. The raid ended around 9 p.m. that day, CAVSF sources said.