Seven-day detention order issued on suspects nabbed with massive heroin haul

The police have secured a seven-day detention order to interrogate the six suspects arrested on international waters off the southern coast of Sri Lanka with a large consignment of heroin.

The suspects were produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate this morning (April 18).

The Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) is conducting further investigations into the matter.

The investigators have uncovered that this drug syndicate is being handled from overseas. Accordingly, probes are underway to apprehend the drug lord who is in hiding in a foreign country and the suspects linked to the drug network here in Sri Lanka.

The suspects aboard a multiday fishing trawler were apprehended on April 15 while transporting 179kg of heroin with a gross street value of Rs. 3.5 billion, nearly 132 nautical miles (about 244km) off the Little Basses, Hambantota.

The narcotics consignment was impounded during a joint operation initiated by the Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Coast Guard, based on the information received from the State Intelligence Service, the Naval Intelligence and the PNB.

Upon receiving the intelligence information, Sri Lanka Coast Guard Ship ‘Samudraraksha’ was deployed for the operation, which resulted in the seizure of six suspects and the massive heroin consignment.

The apprehended suspects, the heroin haul and the fishing trawler were brought ashore to the Galle Harbour on Monday morning (April 17).

The suspects held in the operation have been identified as residents of Nakulugamuwa, Kudawella, Netolpitiya, and Trincomalee, aged between 25 and 32 years.

They were handed over to the Police Narcotic Bureau for onward legal action.

Including the latest seizure, the Sri Lanka Navy has held drugs with a gross street value of over Rs. 4,908 million during operations mounted in 2023.