Over Rs. 57.5 Mn worth of drugs seized today

Colombo (News1st): Seven suspects related to drugs were arrested in and around Colombo today (Feb 8). Peliyagoda 400 kilograms of Kerala Ganja was seized in a raid in Peliyagoda this morning by the Colombo Organized Crimes Division. The Police said the Kerala Ganja had reached Chilaw from India by boat and had been moved to Elakanda, Wattala in a smaller boat. The discovery was made when a van was searched early this morning in Peliyagoda. The Police said the street value of the Kerala Ganja is around Rs. 40 Million. Police spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara said that four suspects were arrested while travelling in two vehicles. Two of them who were travelling in a van were in possession of a .38 type revolver with two live rounds. SP Gunasekara said one of them, Nanda Kumar Shivananda, had served a jail term of 10 years for the possession of 700g of heroin in India. Shivananda had arrived in the country three years ago. BIA arrests A 34 year old Indian national was arrested by the Police Narcotic Bureau this morning at the BIA for the possession of a kilogram of cocaine with a street value of over Rs. 15 Million. The suspect had attempted to smuggle the cocaine from Mumbai to Colombo, concealed in a false bottom of his luggage. Peliyagoda  An Italian and an Israeli national were arrested in Peliyagoda for the possession of 90.796 grams of cocaine with a street value of Rs. 2.5 million.   Sri Lanka Police said 40,987 suspects were arrested in 2018 for the possession of a total of 737 kilograms of Heroin. Police Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekera added that in 2018 4084 kilograms of Cannabis and Kerala Ganja was seized and 54,675 suspects were arrested. In addition, 17 suspects were arrested in 2018 for the possession of a total of 18 kilograms of cocaine. For the year 2019, so far 113 kilograms of heroin has been seized and 4370 suspects have been arrested. 976 kilograms of Cannabis was seized from the possession of 4447 suspects while 2 kilograms of cocaine have been seized from 16 suspects.