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Friday Nov 15, 2024
Saturday, 10 October 2020 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Chandani Kirinde
The Government has identified the existence of a politician-police-drug dealer nexus and has the political will to break it to save the country from the drug menace, Minister of Irrigation and State Minister of Internal Security, Home Affairs and Disaster Management Minister Chamal Rajapaksa told Parliament yesterday.
Rajapaksa said a joint task force comprising personnel from Police, Tri-Forces, Special Task Force, State Intelligence Service, Prisons, Excise Department, and Customs had been set up to expedite the Government’s anti-narcotic operations.
He said law enforcement agencies had arrested 73,444 persons in 2015, 75,304 persons in 2016, 81,156 persons in 2017, 96,489 persons in 2018, 89,308 persons in 2019 and 54,505 persons from 1 January to 18 September this year on charges of selling and using illicit drugs.
During the period from 1 January to 18 September, Police have seized 40,851 kilos of narcotics, and 1,540,000 of narcotic pills. Customs has meanwhile seized 197 kilos of narcotics and 328, 745 pills. Navy has seized 5,107 kilos of narcotics and 17 pills while Prisons has confiscated 179 kilos of narcotics and 24 pills.
The Excise Department has seized 10 kilos of narcotics and the Army 157 kilos of narcotics.
He also said there were reports that exposed illicit drugs seized in raids had gone back into the hands of drug smugglers through the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB).
“Following the exposure of 18 PNB personnel, one STF officer and six civilians had been taken into custody. Of them 13 PNB members are currently in remand custody while the remaining 12 persons are being interrogated under detention orders,” he said.
Rajapaksa said that during the raids on PNB officials, Police found two T56 automatic rifles, five magazines containing 81 live rounds for those rifles, three pistols and 40 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, 11 grams of heroin, two electronic scales, Rs. 34,017,130 in cash, 32 counterfeit notes of Rs. 5,000 denomination and 380 milligrams of cocaine.
Action had been taken to confiscate vehicles and property to the tune of Rs. 190 million earned from the profits of narcotic trade by the PNB officers.
The Minister disclosed the details in response to questions raised by SJB Ratnapura District MP Hesha Withanage.
Withanage noted there was a nexus of politicians, drug lords and Police and other law enforcement bodies and this could be dismantled by transferring out the officials from time to time so that they would not remain in a single place to learn the loopholes of the system.
