A team of Naval personnel apprehended 3 persons with 1638.8 kg of Beedi leaves during raids carried out at lagoon area in Kalpitiya and at Thalpadu beach area in Mannar, in the early morning today (18).
A Naval team attached to the North Western Naval Command, on patrol, apprehended 2 persons with 1160kg of Beedi leaves which had been packed in 35 parcels, at a lagoon area in Kalpitiya.
The suspects are residents of Kalpitiya area, aged 35 and 42, according to Sri Lanka Navy.
This haul of Beedi leaves is suspected to be transferred by a dinghy to the island. The suspects, the haul of Beedi leaves and the dinghy were handed over to Customs office-Colombo for further investigation.
Further, Naval personnel attached to the North Central Naval Command apprehended a person with 478.8kg of Beedi leaves which were packed in 15 parcels.
The suspect is 28 years old resident of Pallemune area in Mannar. The recovered haul of Beedi leaves along with the suspect was handed over to Customs office-Jaffna for onward action.
Accordingly, more than 15500kg of Beedi leaves have been recovered, during the raids conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy, only within this year and Navy continues with further raids to avert illegal activities.
