Large-scale drug trafficker Mohommed Shiran Basik was acquitted from a drug case against him on orders of the Colombo High Court on Thursday (14 March).

Colombo High Court Judge Manjula Thilakaratne ordered the defendant’s acquittal citing significant contradictions in the testimonies provided by officers of the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB).

According to the complaint, Basik was apprehended on 11 January 2011, near the Edmonton housing scheme in Kirulapana with 4.53 grams of heroin. Initially, it was reported that he was arrested alone, but later police officials claimed he was with his child at the time of arrest.

Moreover, despite a police officer’s assertion that the raid was prompted by a tip-off received by the police from a certain phone number, evidence presented by the defense revealed that the phone number in question had been disconnected approximately one and a half years prior.

Given these inconsistencies, the judge deemed it inappropriate to convict the accused. The trial proceeded in the absence of Basik, who has fled to Dubai.

In a separate development, authorities had recently initiated the demolition of a hotel situated near the beachfront in the Dehiwala area, reportedly owned by the accused.