• 6 vehicles seized after 19 sacks found floating in the sea 

The Police Western Province (WP) North Crimes Division arrested eight suspects along with over 300 kg of narcotic substances that were being transported by land earlier yesterday morning (12), following a special operation carried out on the Andagalawella Beach in Kirinda.

It is reported the Director of the WP North Crimes Division, Assistant Superintendent of Police Rohan Olugala, had received credible information that a large consignment of drugs was being transported to the Tissamaharama area by sea. The information was then conveyed to the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Southern Province (SP), Kithsiri Jayalath. 

Accordingly, officers from the WP North Crimes Division, together with a Police team from the SP, launched a special operation on the Andagalawella Beach yesterday morning. Investigations have revealed that a stock of narcotic substances transported across the deep sea by a multi-day fishing vessel had been transferred to a smaller boat. The consignment of drugs brought close to the shore from the small boat had been left floating in the sea with the help of a rope, and seven suspects who had arrived to retrieve the stock of narcotics were arrested by the Police officers. 

A total of 19 sacks containing narcotic substances, which were discovered floating in the nearby sea area, were brought ashore and later taken to the Kirinda Police Station. The stock of narcotics, weighing approximately 345 kg, is suspected to be crystal methamphetamine (‘Ice’), the Police said. The arrested suspects were brought to the Kirinda Police Station, while another suspect connected to the incident was later apprehended. Six vehicles suspected to have been used in the drug trafficking operation were also seized and taken into Police custody. 

Meanwhile, a local resident stated that drug trafficking has been taking place along the relevant stretch of beach area over a long period of time.

Elsewhere, the former National People’s Power Peliyagoda Urban Councillor’s husband, who was arrested in Anuradhapura with heroin and subsequently suspended from his position as a school principal in Eppawala, has been remanded until 26 November by the Thambuththegama Magistrate’s Court. 

The school principal in question was recently arrested with 1 kg and 118 g of heroin. Accordingly, the Thambuththegama Magistrate’s Court issued a seven-day detention order on 6 November, permitting the Police to further question the principal. The principal was suspended from service on 7 November, by the Education Department of the North-Central Province (NCP). The NCP Director of Education issued a letter to the school principal in question, stating that based on the information provided by the Anuradhapura Divisional Criminal Investigation Division, he had committed an offence under the provisions of the Establishments Code. Accordingly, he was suspended from service with immediate effect.