Four arrested as Navy finds 80 kg of hashish on trawler off Negombo
Sri Lanka Navy personnel arrested four men on a multi-day fishing trawler in the seas off Negombo on 4 January 2021 and found about 80 kg of hashish packed in nine sacks alongside 100 kg of crystal meth. The Navy valued the stock at over Rs 600 million and handed the suspects, drugs and trawler to the Police Narcotic Bureau.
Sri Lanka Navy personnel arrested four people on a multi-day fishing trawler in
the seas off Negombo on 4 January 2021.[1]About 80 kg of hashish was seized
from the trawler, packed in nine sacks and concealed as plastic containers and
small packets.[1]The Navy put the street value of the whole stock held in the
operation at more than 600 million Sri Lankan rupees.[1]The suspects were
residents of the Thoduwawa area of Chilaw, and they, the drugs and the trawler
were handed to the Police Narcotic Bureau in Colombo for legal action.[1]
The operation was carried out with the Navy’s intelligence services and the
Police Narcotics Bureau, with assistance from the Sri Lanka Air Force, and the
Navy impounded the fishing trawler used to smuggle the contraband.[2]The
consignment also carried 100 kg of crystal methamphetamine, which is outside the
cannabis scope of this tracker and is not counted here.[2]
An Indian Customs official said earlier large consignments of heroin came by sea
from the Makran coast in Pakistan, and that meth, as the main component this
time, may now bring smugglers more profit.[2]
The Sri Lanka Air Force supported the operation, which the Navy said followed
COVID-19 preventive guidelines.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
4
Cannabis
80 kg
Value (official estimate)
LKR 600,000,000
Agencies
Sri Lanka Navy; Police Narcotic Bureau; Sri Lanka Air Force
Sri Lanka Police said 597,964 drug-related operations over the past two years involved 596,591 suspects and recovered 43,726 kilograms of narcotics, of which 28,441 kilograms was cannabis. Police valued the whole haul at about Rs. 224 billion and also reported 4,056 firearms and weapons seized in the same period.
Sri Lanka Customs opened nine uncollected foreign postal parcels at the Central Mail Exchange in Colombo and seized kush, hashish, ecstasy and cocaine worth Rs 60.26 million. The parcels came from Thailand, Spain, Britain and the US; the drugs went to the Police Narcotic Bureau.
Sri Lanka Customs found 2.4 kg of cannabis and 12.4 kg of hashish worth Rs 157 million hidden inside wooden table boards shipped from Thailand as a gift. A 29-year-old suspect from Ragama was taken into Customs custody.
The Sri Lanka Navy intercepted a dinghy in Jaffna's Gurunagar lagoon and reported recovering over 192 kg of foreign cannabis in 88 parcels packed into seven sacks. One suspect and the seizure were handed to the Jaffna police for further legal action.
