By Norman Palihawadane
Over 300 kilos of heroin, with a street value of over Rs. 6000 million, were taken into custody by the Navy, STF commandos, and officers of the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) in seas off Hambantota.
They also took into custody 10 suspects, including a woman, a trawler, a fishing boat, and a dinghy during the joint operation conducted on Saturday night.
The drug-carrying trawler and the suspects were brought to the Galle Harbour yesterday morning.
Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne also visited the Galle Harbour to inspect the vessels.
The Navy spokesman said that the special operation had been mounted by the Offshore Patrol Vessel SLNS Wickrama II, based on a coordinated intelligence operation of the Navy Intelligence, the STF and PNB officers. The Navy’s sea unit deployed in this special mission intercepted a suspicious local fishing trawler in southern waters about 10 nautical miles (about 18km) off the Great Basses Reef Lighthouse.
A subsequent search led to the detection of 300 packages of the substance stuffed in 12 sacks concealed in the trawler. There were six suspects on board.
The narcotics weighed 331.11 kilos and had a street value of Rs 6,622.2 million, the Navy spokesman said.
A dinghy suspected to have been made ready to fetch the stock of narcotics from mid-sea was taken into custody and four suspects including a woman involved in the land-network of the drug racket were arrested in an operation mounted off Nillwella on Sunday.
PNB officers are conducting further operations in search of more suspects connected to the drug smuggling ring.
The suspects were identified as residents of Hambantota, Kottegoda, Dickwella and Mahamadala.
The haul of narcotics, multi-day fishing trawler, dinghy and 10 suspects will be handed over to the Police Narcotic Bureau for legal action, after those proceedings.