Court allows 7 days detention of suspects arrested over trafficking 778 kgs of heroin, ICE

By Bhagya Silva

Colombo, May 29 (Daily Mirror) - The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today granted permission to the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) to detain and interrogate 11 more suspects arrested while allegedly transporting approximately 778 kilograms of heroin and Crystal methamphetamine (ICE) by boat off the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

The order was issued by Colombo Chief Magistrate Thanuja Lakmali following a request by the PNB, citing the need for further investigations.

The suspects have been identified as Peduru Hewage Prasanna, Dinesh Sanjeewa, Pradeep Nishantha, Sudesh, Ajith Priyantha, Don Nilan Sampath, Ruwan Nishantha, Sunil Shantha, Nalin Priyantha, and Hendige Wasantha.

The arrests were made when two multi-day fishing trawlers suspected of transporting the narcotics were intercepted by the Sri Lanka Navy in southern waters the day before.

Following their arrest, officers from the Police Narcotics Bureau produced the suspects before the Magistrate’s Court yesterday and requested approval to detain them for further questioning, citing that investigations into the incident were still ongoing.

Granting the request, the Chief Magistrate authorised the suspects to be held in police custody for a period of one week for continued interrogation.