New police unit to take drug war to the sea
“The Navy is already doing a stellar job in tracking down boats smuggling illegal drugs and other contraband,” the DIG said, adding that police would now be in a position to help them in their operations.
Amid growing fears that the Northern Province is turning into a ‘hub’ for narcotic drugs, authorities are taking tough new measures to combat the threat.
Among such measures is the setting up earlier this month of a Police Marine Division unit in Mannar. The ten-member unit was set up with the aim of taking the fight to the smugglers at sea.
Trained in Colombo, its officers, equipped with two boats which once belonged to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), began their operations last week. Police obtained the boats through a court order issued by Mannar's Magistrate.
Explaining why the unit was set up in Mannar, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Deshabandu Tennakoon said smugglers were using Mannar -also Talaimannar and Pesalai -- as their key landing point because of its close proximity to India from where large stocks of illegal drugs, particularly Kerala Ganja and heroin, come to Sri Lanka. Indian drug gangs even use fishermen to smuggle drugs into Sri Lanka, with the transfer of contraband taking place at mid- sea.
In one of the recent raids, DIG Tennakoon said, Police thwarted an attempt to smuggle in large stocks of Kerala Ganja through Silavathurai.
When the smugglers noticed that the police had arrived, they escaped after dumping the stocks on the beach. In another drug bust on November 29, a joint navy-police operation resulted in the seizure of 60 kilograms of Kerala Ganja with a market value of more than R. 9.1 million. Three suspects were arrested. The DIG said the high incidence of detection in the area demonstrated the need to set up a new police marine unit in the area as part of a concerted effort to tackle the surge in illegal drug smuggling.
Kerala Ganja smuggling was one of the chief reasons behind the setting up of the new unit, police acknowledged. The Sri Lanka Navy alone has seized about 1.500 kilograms of Kerala Ganja this year, according to Navy Spokesman Akram Alavi.
DIG Tennakoon said the new unit would coordinate with the Navy in cracking down on illegal activities at sea. The police boats would mainly patrol the shallow waters along the coast and the Mannar lagoon.
“The Navy is already doing a stellar job in tracking down boats smuggling illegal drugs and other contraband,” the DIG said, adding that police would now be in a position to help them in their operations. Kerala Ganja is not the only concern regarding illegal activities centered at sea.
DIG Tennakoon said heroin and other drugs were also being smuggled in smaller quantities into the country via the sea route. There have also been cases of stocks of cigarettes being smuggled.
Police also hope that the new unit would assist in cracking down on illegal fishing methods, which were causing enormous harm to the region’s fragile marine environment. “Fishermen are using dynamite, destroying our marine life,” the DIG said.
The DIG said he believed the use of dynamite could be the reason for the deaths of several Dugong (Muhudu Ura), a marine mammal related to the Whale family. Classified as being vulnerable to extinction, Dugong numbers around Sri Lanka have depleted rapidly over the years mainly due to illegal fishing practices.
The Police Marine Division has been in existence since 1998. DIG Tennakoon said he hopes that with assistance from Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara, they would be able to train more officers with the division and deploy them to the region to strengthen the new unit.
He was also hopeful that the unit would be able to acquire more boats in the near future.