• Trafficker’s Rs. 30 m assets frozen, include property in Col 14 and Ja-Ela, land, shops, houses, accounts 
• Prez-law enforcement stakeholders focus on expeditious drug destruction 

The owner of a pharmacy in Hatton Town was arrested by officers of the Hatton Divisional Anti-Corruption Unit for selling psychiatric medication to youth without valid medical prescriptions. The arrest followed a tip-off indicating that the suspect was targeting young people, selling these controlled substances at high prices. Acting on this information, officials coordinated an operation using an undercover Police officer to apprehend the individual. During the raid, authorities seized approximately 1,400 medicinal tablets that had been prepared for sale. The suspect was scheduled to be produced before the Hatton Magistrate’s Court.

Assets worth over Rs. 30 million purchased using illegally earned money by a drug trafficker were frozen by court. The assets, acquired by the suspect using illicit earnings, include property located in Colombo 14 and Ja-Ela, land valued at over Rs. 51.4 million, four shops, a three-storey house, and six bank accounts with Rs. 5.9 million. Orders to freeze these assets have been extended and enforced by the Negombo and Colombo High Courts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Further investigations into the suspect revealed a luxury three-storey house worth Rs. 30 million located in Wellampitiya, believed to have been purchased with proceeds from drug trafficking. Meanwhile, an order has been issued to freeze this property for a period of seven days starting from 20 March.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has emphasised the importance of expeditiously destroying seized drug stocks and underlined the need to establish a formal and efficient process to achieve this objective. A meeting was held on Tuesday (24) at the Presidential Secretariat between President Dissanayake and the committee appointed to amend legislation to remove legal obstacles to the swift destruction of seized narcotics. A draft Bill to amend the relevant legislation has already been prepared to expedite the process and discussions focused on further reducing the time required for the destruction of seized narcotics in line with the provisions of the draft Bill. Deliberations were also held on the practical challenges faced by the Judiciary, the Police and the Government Analyst’s (GA) Department. Deputy Solicitor General Suharshie Herath Jayaweera outlined the challenges encountered by the Attorney General’s Department in handling relevant cases. The importance of progressing the suggested legislative changes was emphasised, while also ensuring that drug traffickers are prosecuted effectively and preventing items in judicial custody from being reintegrated into society. Inspector General of Police, attorney Priyantha Weerasuriya briefed the meeting on the current status of judicial processes relating to seized narcotics and the measures taken by the Police to address existing challenges. The enhancement of facilities within the GA’s Department, in order to support the expedited implementation of this process, was also discussed. It was agreed to submit the proposed Bill, with necessary amendments, to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval as soon as possible, in order to eliminate legal impediments to the swift destruction of seized narcotics.