Excise officer, two others arrested with Rs. 10mn worth Mandy drugs

Three persons including an Excise officer have been arrested by the Police Special Task Force (STF) with 653 grams of the synthetic drug known as 'Mandy' valued over Rs. 10 million.
 
The STF arrested a suspect at a roadblock near the Kaluaggala Clock Tower last night, in possession of Mandy drugs while travelling in a car. The arrest was made following a tip-off received by the STF Intelligence.
 
Following the interrogation of the 42-year-old suspect, the STF arrested a 25-year-old resident of Hanwella over aiding and abetting drug trafficking.
 
STF said the Excise officer attached to the Jayawardenapura Excise Raid Unit was arrested based on the questioning of the second suspect.
 
The investigation revealed that the 31-year-old excise officer had provided Mandy drugs to the second suspect last Wednesday for trafficking.
 
The suspects and drugs were handed over to the Police Narcotic Bureau for further investigations.
 
The STF team led by CI Nadeeka Silva conducted the raid on the instructions of STF Commandant.
 
Meanwhile, Excise Spokesman Kapila Kumarasinghe said the Commissioner-General of Excise had ordered to immediately suspend the excise officer arrested over drug trafficking.
 
He said the said officer was a new excise recruiter who has completed his probation period recently.(Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya)