Caught in the claws of drug monster
A22-member rugby team visited Sri Lanka in May this year to play charity matches. One night, two players chose to have some fun off the field. From the hotel where they were staying, the duo went to the Cleopatra Night Club on Galle Road in Kollupitiya -- andin the wee hours of the next morning, they returned to their rooms.
They fell unconscious and later they were found by their colleagues. The duo were rushed to a private hospital in Colombo. One was found dead on admission whilst the other was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He died later. They died of an opioid drug overdose and intoxication, ruled Colombo's Judicial Medical Officers Dr Ajith Tennakoon and Dr. M.N. Ruhul Haq. Opioid is a narcotic compound resembling opium in addictive properties or physiological effects. In this instance, it was found to be a blend of morphine and heroin.
The tragedy laid bare what has been going on in recent years outside the so- called night clubs that have mushroomed in many parts of the city. It is not only liquor and lovely girls, better descibed as prostitutes, that attract the clientele. The magnet is a variety of synthetic drugs -- the outlets that sell them are mostly three- wheelers and vans which lie parked outside. The night club staff are aware of the “sale points” and the clubs do not object to their use in The Sunday Times
See box story for the types of synthetic drugs)
Now detections are made almost daily. However, a source at the Narcotics Bureau said, “what has been detected is not even the tip of the iceberg”.
On Thursday night, a haul of 878 grams of Crystal Meth (ice), a synthetic drug, was detected near the Pettah floating market by Police Narcotic Bureau ( PNB) and Criminal Investigations Department (CID) detectives. The raid was conducted on a tip-off that an Indian national was bringing drugs to the area. The estimated street value of the detection was Rs 10 million. The Indian national was arrested and produced in the Maligakanda Magistrate courts.
The rings that operate the synthetic drugs market are rich enough and have their own friends among politicians, policemen and various law enforcement agencies. This week, the Police Special Task Force (STF) that is in the forefront of drug- busting operations arrested Nuwan Attanayaka alias ‘ police’, described as a local drug lord. His mobile phone had photographs taken together with Minister Sarath Fonseka. An STF source said his phone records showed that he was in touch with Field Marshal Fonseka, who led troops to the military defeat of the Tiger guerrillas. The suspect, a former police officer, has admitted that he was involved in Minister Fonseka’s political work.
Besides the synthetic drugs, an equally potent drug is the mostly available Ganja or Cannabis Sativa. The local availability, boosted by the smuggling of large quantities of this drug from South India, reveals that the country’s shores are porous and vulnerable. Our investigation revealed that some in high positions of the law enforcement agencies are colluding with the smugglers for high financial gain. A recent detection reveals the extent of Kerala Ganja smuggling into the country. ( See box for comments from Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Northern Province)
In the detection, made on Thursday, August 2 in Mannar, STF personnel seized a haul of 130 kg of Kerala Ganja (Kerala Cannabis) on a tip-off from the Navy. A senior STF officer said they ambushed an individual on a Mannar beach no sooner he arrived in a fishing boat. The contraband was found in four gunny bags. The suspect, identified as Abdul Salam Asmin (39), a resident of Mannar, was handed over to the area police. Further investigations are being conducted by the PNB.
There has been a spate of other detections of Kerala Ganja in recent months. In one of the meticulously carried out operations, Police on June 14, detected 250 kilograms of Kerala Ganja with a street value of more than Rs. 25 million.
After the PNB received several tip-offs that a lorry transporting fish from Mannar was also carrying Kerala Ganja to Colombo, a ten-member police team headed by a Chief Inspector was deployed in civvies at Mahabage in Wattala. The lorry had been under surveillance for nearly two months.
The police team stopped the lorry and carried out a search which led to the detection of Kerala Ganja concealed in rigifoam boxes which were placed in-between similar boxes containing fish.
A PNB officer speaking on condition of anonymity said that cannabis or ganja is a flowering plant which has medicinal properties but when smoked it can cause hallucination, stimulation or even depression in the smoker.
The plant grows in Sri Lanka but most addicts prefer Kerala Ganja or KG grown in the southern Indian state of Kerala, he said, adding that some fishermen were involved in the smuggling of Kerala Ganja. The officer said: “We also find local and foreign networks of drug trafficking when we confiscate and check through the phone contacts of the drug transporters. Most of the operations are headed by ones who are imprisoned,” he said.
“Those who run the drug mafia don't use drugs. They are only after profits,” he said.
There have been long standing concerns regarding maritime narcotics trafficking into and out of Sri Lanka. Last year, the then Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake noted that Sri Lanka
had become a ‘transit hub' for mass-scale drug smuggling.
Shanaka Jayasekara, South Asia Programme Coordinator for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told the Sunday Times that Sri Lanka lies on a trafficking path known as the ‘Southern Route’.
Citing the increase in heroin production in Afghanistan and heightened maritime trafficking to the South Asian region, Mr. Jayasekara warned that invariably a transit hub could become a consumer hub and with time, the influx of ‘ narco- money’, democratic institutions could be weakened, leading to ‘narco-politics’.
Recent violence related to narcotics trafficking and gang activity has again drawn public attention to the complex problem. Public outcry for tough action has prompted the President to take a more populist stand in calling for an end to the moratorium on the death penalty.
Since 1984, policymakers have time and again endorsed and sought to implement
the death penalty for drug trafficking. Policymakers have largely been supportive of the idea, however, there have been a few who have argued against it. There has been strong opposition from diplomatic quarters and human rights groups to the move to re-implement the death penalty.
UNODC's Mr. Jayasekera warns that the death penalty move could hinder international cooperation on transnational crime. Countries which are opposed to the death penalty might not be willing to share intelligence, fearing that a conviction based on their information could result in death, he said. (See box story on further comments by Mr. Jayasekera)
As the law enforcement authorities intensify their efforts to crack down on drug trafficking, other institutions, including the National Dangerous Drugs control Board (NDDCB), are trying to end the menace by rehabilitating addicts and freeing them from drug dependence. ( See box story on rehabilitated drug addicts)