The fight against drugs in the open seas

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Kerala Ganaja is one of the main narcotic substances that has plagued Sri Lanka. A News 1st team received the opportunity to look into deep sea operations carried out by the Sri Lanka Navy to curb drug peddling. According to Intelligence services, a majority of the Kerala Ganja comes to Sri Lanka by boat, mostly from the Northern Seas. As a result, the Sri Lanka Navy dispatches all boats under it command in the North to patrol the northern waters, to detect and arrest drug peddlers and have conducted many successful raids in deep seas. The News 1st team came to know that drug peddlers commonly use fishermen to carry out their illegal drug-related activities. Lieutenant Commander Isuru Sooriyabandara, the Navy Media Spokesman shared that it is usual to see fishermen in their patrol routes adding that they take measure to carry out inspections in a manner which causes minimal inconvenience to them. He also noted that during the last two months Navy has seized over 600kg of KG in Northern sea. Rear Admiral P.M. Wickramasinghe, Commander of Northern Naval area gave insight into the conduct of the Navy in Northern sea. He noted that no vessel in water should be worried about naval vessels if they have nothing illegal in their possession. He stressed that the navy is duty bounded to curb the drug menace as it has a devastating effect on the Sri Lankan citizens.