EXCISE NABS SLTB CONDUCTOR TRAFFICKING GANJA

Colombo City Station Excise officials following a lengthy probe apprehended the suspect on Saturday when he was bringing a parcel of ganja from Matara to Colombo.

The parcel contained 450grames of high quality locally grown cannabis from a special grade in Thanamalvila of which a kilogramme is sold at Rs.120,000 in the underground market. The seized stock, to the size of a regular meal packet was valued at Rs.60, 000. Two Excise officials in plain clothes who were monitoring the conductor’s behaviour from Aluthgama had taken him into custody when he had tried to relocate an unaccompanied parcel that was lying in one of the overhead baggage racks in the Moratuwa area.

Preliminary inquiries had revealed that the suspect, a conductor attached to the Sri Lanka Transport Board Depot in Matara had been frequently transporting ganja from Matara to Colombo during his duty turns.

According to Excise sources, the suspect had been receiving parcels from unknown individuals who drop those in the bus when it was being parked at the Matara stand prior to its daily departure to Colombo.

The suspect’s modus operandi was to collect the parcel, usually about 500grammes neatly packed and leave it on the overhead rack until the bus reaches Colombo.the parcel will remain as an unaccompanied package if any law enforcement authority makes a random check-up on the way.

When the bus reaches the Central Bus Stand in Pettah the suspect delivers the parcel yet again to another unknown individual who comes to collect it, the suspect had claimed at the interrogation. The Excise however, suspect whether the conductor is telling the entire truth about those who supply and collect the narcotic parcels. Since the trafficking is done in a well-organised manner the Excise suspect members of the Southern underworld are involved in delivering the drugs to its Colombo counterpart and the conductor isn’t divulging any information due to risk of his life.