Excise officials bust narcotic racket operating from Dubai

COLOMBO (News1st): Excise and Navy officials seized narcotics worth at least Rs 3 billion in Puttalam on Sunday, busting a racket involving narcotics smuggled from Dubai. The operation had been set in motion upon receiving intelligence information that heroin and a narcotic identified as "ice" were being smuggled into Sri Lanka by sea, excise officials said. "For the first time in the history of the Excise department, we were able to seize 200 kgs of drugs, valued at between Rs 2.5 and 3 billion," excise chief Ariyadasa Bodaragama told media. Four suspects had been arrested while transporting 100 kilos each of the two narcotic varieties that were hidden in the engine of a truck.