Stiff penalties for offenders:

Police keep close tab on Drug trafficking

by Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana and Ananda Agalakada

Wele Suda	Mohamed Siddique

Heroin is a dangerous drug consumed by a large number of addicts in Sri Lanka. Drug peddling is a high risk trade done by local underworld operators. Tough penalties exist for offenders. But trafficking these narcotics within the country or smuggling it in and out of the island does not seem to be ceasing. Instead more heroin is being seized by the authorities every now and then.

The largest haul of heroin weighing over 261 kilograms seized by the Sri Lanka Customs in August, 2013 was an eye-opener for the authorities to the reality. Subsequent detections carried out following this gained much focus on the illicit trade and attempts being made to smuggle drugs into the country.

Whilst officials at the sea ports and airports have intensified their operations in search of narcotics flowing to the country the police operating within the island made a startling detection in June this year.

Police Special Task Force personnel seized 85 kilograms of heroin being transported in a car by two brothers whom were reportedly the pawns of a leading kingpin who is said to have fled the country. Following this detection the intelligence operations within the country was intensified to curb local drug trafficking.

However, just days after that movement the latest detections were made last week, where 18 kilograms of heroin were seized in two

separate raids carried out by the Police Narcotics Bureau and Borella Police. Law enforcement authorities found nine kilograms of heroin in each case and arrested 13 persons including two females. All these arrests indicated that these cases were linked to a well organised network of underworld drug trade controlled by most wanted drug barons who have fled the country a long time ago.

ASP Roshan Dias

On Monday the officers of the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) nabbed a man transporting nine kilograms of heroin in a van in Nedimala, Dehiwala. The suspect identified as Chinthaka Kumara Dias was arrested on information received from four other persons taken into custody on previous occasions in Madiwela area in Kotte.

The suspect was found to be an accomplice of notorious underworld drug kingpin Gampola Vidanalage Saman Kumara alias Wele Suda, who was wanted for numerous narcotics offences. Wele Suda had fled the country around four years ago and is believed to have been living in a Middle Eastern country.

With the arrest of the two Tamil brothers Selvadurai Sundara Raja and Selvadurai Ravi Kumar in connection with the haul of 85 kilograms of heroin in Biyagama last month by the STF Intelligence Wing, the case was handed over to the PNB for further investigations.

OIC Borella Police CI Sarath Premachandra

The PNB questioning the two siblings at length arrested four suspects from Madiwela, whom were reportedly the supporters of Wele Suda.

These suspects were learnt to have aided and abated Wele Suda when he was actively engaged in drug trafficking before they fled the country. The PNB interrogated these suspects and learnt that Chinthaka Kumara Dias was transporting a large amount of heroin on Monday. With this information the PNB deployed their best men in the field and took the vehicle into custody along with its driver.

Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said the seized stock of drugs were valued at Rs.63 million with one kilogram of Heroin being sold at Rs.7 million in the contemporary market. The PNB who produced the five suspects in courts obtained Detention Orders to further interrogate them as to how they have received such a large stock of heroin.

Proceeding investigations have revealed that another wanted suspect namely Mohamed Siddique is also linked to the case. Siddique who also fled the country sometime back is reportedly living in Pakistan. It is believed that the two Tamil siblings were operating under the instructions of Siddique and the seized drugs in Nedimala were a part of the narcotics found in Biyagama.

A special team of detectives are conducting investigations under the supervision of Director PNB SSP Kamal Silva.

In the meantime Borella Police on Sunday arrested two suspects for drug peddling. The two suspects were taken into custody near the Serpentine Flats in Wanathamulla on information that they engaged in selling heroin on a small scale. Borella Police Vice Branch found 3.5 grams of heroin in the suspects’ possession. They were questioned at length and learnt that a third person is involved in the business. With the information sought from the first two suspects the police went after a third man.

The third suspect was arrested along with 35 grams of heroin. When the suspect was interrogated he divulged that a man called Dinusha gave him the drugs.

The police running on the details given by the third suspect arrested the fourth man from Kabir Nanagewatta in Wanathamulla with 500 grams of heroin. Chinthami Hettige Dinusha Maduranga is a 26-year-old youth who recently returned to the country after living four years in the United Kingdom.

On his return he had entered into the narcotics business with some close associates. When police questioned him Dinusha revealed that he is had more drugs at his fiancée’s house in the same area.

Dinusha was arrested while he was preparing to get married to his fiancée in a grand wedding to be held in a leading hotel on Friday. However having divulged that he had more drugs, a special police team in plain clothing accompanied Dinusha to his fiancée’s house in Kolonnawa. The young girl who had the least idea about her fiancé’s illicit business welcomed the policemen into the house thinking they were her boyfriend’s friends. Dinusha who fetched a sound speaker left with the police with no clue about what is going on.

Inside the speaker he showed 1.5 kilograms of Heroin to the police and said there were more Heroin in his fiancée’s place. However Dinusha’s elder sister who aided and abated the illicit business sensed that her brother had been arrested by the police and that they will return to take the remaining stock of drugs.

About 7.5 kilograms of drugs hidden in three cement pedestals to keep flower pots which were in her brother’s fiancée’s house had been removed from the place without the latter’s knowledge. She had used a trishaw to take the cement pedestals to Technical Junction in Maradana and hired another trishaw to send them to a house in Ja-ela.

Borella Police who took the two females into custody learnt that the drugs had been transferred to a different location. The police also arrested the two trishaw drivers who helped to transport the drugs. In the meantime a special team was sent to Bolwatta in Ja-ela. There the three cement pedestals were taken into custody and after destroying them the Heroin was found inside. Several packets of Heroin neatly packed in a thick aluminium foil had been inserted into an iron basket which had been covered in cement solution. The three cylinder-like pedestals were ideal fool proof system to conceal the drugs.

OIC Borella Police Chief Inspector Sarath Premachandra told the Sunday Observer that the seized drugs were valued at Rs.65 million. All eight suspects including the two females were produced before Maligakanda Magistrate and detention orders were sought to further question them. Dinusha had reportedly received this stock of Heroin from a drug king pin called Podi Sudu. The seized drugs have been sent to the Government Analyst to check the purity levels.

Meanwhile, ASP Colombo South III Roshan Dias in charge of the Borella Police area told the Sunday Observer that Podi Sudu is a wanted suspect for many drug related cases. Although he is still at large, the suspect had failed to leave the country. A police team has been deployed to find the whereabouts of this missing suspect. The police believe that with his arrest they will learn a lot about this stock of heroin and the top dogs behind the game.

OIC Borella Police Vice Branch Inspector Subash Priyadarshana and his team of Constables Nilanga (71313), Basnayake (86171), Asela (85894) and Dimuthu (81521) are conducting investigations under the instructions of DIG Colombo Range Gamini Mathurata.

Detecting Heroin has become a whole new chapter these days. When detections only limited for only several hundred grams until few years ago, today the law enforcement agencies come across several dozen kilograms of drugs in one heist.

With penalties that could punish somebody who found guilty of possessing mere three grams of Heroin with life, the attitude of these offenders who medal with kilos of narcotics is different topic to be discussed. But the necessity to crackdown this dangerous trend is vital.

The Interpol has issued red notices on 12 Sri Lankans who had fled the country because of drug trafficking. Apart from the most notorious names like Kimbulaela Guna and Wele Suda these suspects live in discrete in overseas countries to operate their illicit business in Sri Lanka. They are being supported by the local underworld as well as the elements of the dirty politics. But it is the prime duty of the law enforcement authorities to bring the culprits to book.