More than 18 tonnes of drugs seized within 12-months

More than 18 tonnes of drugs including heroin have been seized and nearly 72,000 suspects were arrested along with the drugs since November 2019 to date, police revealed.

Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said at a press briefing that those suspects were arrested with 2,000 kg of heroin, 15,000 kg of cannabis and nearly 1,000 kg of other synthetic drugs such as Ice.

He said police are conducting  special anti-narcotic operations, along with other stakeholders, such as Sri Lanka Police, STF, the Excise Department, Sri Lanka Navy, Immigrations, Customs and Coast Guard in order to eradicate the drug menace from the country.

He said the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) is providing technical and infrastructure facilities in this regard.

Accordingly, at least 2,000 kg of heroin had been seized within a period of a year while more than 36,000 suspects have been arrested with heroin. “The PNB seized 444kg of heroin, 274kg of heroin were recovered during raids conducted in police stations across the country, 157 kg by the STF, 280 kg of heroin by the Navy, 507 kg during joint raids by Navy and the PNB and over 100 kg by the excise officials,” he said.

In addition, at least 15,000 kg of cannabis have been seized and more than 33,000 suspects were taken into custody.

Also 1,640 suspects have been taken into the custody with 878 kg of synthetic drugs, DIG Rohana said.

Meanwhile, commenting on the detection of 200 kg of heroin and Ice drugs by the Excise Department and the Navy on Sunday, the spokesman said the main trafficker has been operating from Dubai, UAE.

He said the authorities will seek support from the Sri Lankan missions in UAE and the Interpol to locate and bring the main trafficker into the country.

He said the main suspect had been in the remand custody of Sri Lanka in an earlier occasion.

“ We will conduct further investigation into the detection along with the excise department to get down the main trafficker who is living in Dubai at the moment,’ the spokesman said.( Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya)