High-flying air hostess in narcotic drama

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Smuggling of heroin almost came to a standstill during the height of terrorism in the Northern and Eastern provinces due to the presence of naval craft patrolling the Palk Straits. However, with the resumption of fishing activity in the Palk Straits during the past three years heroin smuggling in fishing boats has increased again, sources said.

Even the Banadaranaike International Airport (BIA) has become a transit point for heroin smuggling as in the past. Many drug couriers who attempted to smuggle heroin through the BIA have been arrested.

The high profile drug-smuggling attempt was detected in recent times when a young air hostess was nabbed by the police with a large quantity of heroin. On a tip-off to the Vice Squad of Wellawatte police several policemen waited at the Pamankade junction last week for the arrival of a car driven by an air hostess. After several hours they spotted a car driven by a woman at break-neck speed approaching the Pamankade junction. As the car approached the policemen signalled the driver to stop it. The woman driver brought the vehicle to a grinding halt. There was another woman in the front seat.

When the woman driver alighted from the vehicle, policewomen searched her and found 27 packets containing around 1,540 grams of heroin strapped around her waist and neatly covered with her saree. She was taken in for questioning along with the other woman companion and was taken to the Wellawatte police station. While being questioned she admitted that she was addicted to drugs for some time. Her companion also an employee of the airline had very little to say about the incident other than accompanying her friend home.

Remanded

She was a resident of Nuwara Eliya. But what is puzzling so far was whether the woman suspect had purchased the heroin from abroad or locally.

According to sources, the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) will conduct an investigation to ascertain whether a local kingpin was also linked to the drug smuggling racket.

However, it is not clear to whom the woman was going to hand over the consignment of drugs. Although the suspect was staying in Rajagiriya it was not clear why she went to Pamankade.

The woman suspect was later produced before the Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris who refused bail and remanded her till August 21, until investigations are completed by the Wellawatte police station.

The magistrate made the order when police told court that the suspect needed therapy to overcome her addiction to drugs.

The other woman who accompanied the suspect was granted bail by the Magistrate.

Concealed

While busting up the heroin trafficking racket at Pamankade on August 3, the Mirihana Special Crime Investigation Unit headed by Chief Inspector Janaka Perera also detected another heroin racket at Attidiya when a notorious woman nicknamed ‘Pramila Devi’ was apprehended with 2,000 packets of heroin in her possession on August 14.

She had concealed the packets in a plastic bag when the policemen waiting in ambush arrested her at Attidiya.

The haul of heroin that weighed 45 grams was worth more than Rs 600,000. The woman had purchased the heroin from a drug baron in Colombo.

Last year law enforcement agencies seized around 39 kilograms of heroin and arrested 14,431 suspects related to drug offences. A haul of 150,841 kilograms of Cannabis and 10 kilograms of cocaine and 18 kilograms of Hashish were also seized during the same period.

The Police Narcotics Bureau, and other police stations, the CID, the Excise Department, the Prisons Department, the Army Navy and the Police Special Task Force were responsible for the detections.