Lanka seeks more Indian support

In the wake of findings indicating that Colombo is being used as a transit point for drug trafficking, the Customs authorities are now

We review the progress of the implementation of SAARC agreement bilaterally with India.

trying to strengthen ties with India further to curb the trend, officials said yesterday.

Sri Lanka Customs Director General Dr. N. Gunawardane told the Daily Mirror that the SAARC Mutual Agreement on Administration Assistance on Customs Matters was already in place to co-operate with the countries in the region in this case. He also said there was a separate agreement signed with Pakistan over a year ago to co-operate with each other on matters relating to Customs.

“We review the progress of the implementation of SAARC agreement bilaterally with India. Yet, we look to further strengthening of bilateral ties with India,” he said.

Earlier, the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board, in a report submitted to Parliament, revealed that Colombo and Male were being used as transit points for trafficking drugs to Europe from Pakistan and India.

He said, “We can seize only a small portion of drugs

We review the progress of the implementation of SAARC agreement bilaterally with India. Yet, we look to further strengthening of bilateral ties with India

smuggled into the country. Traffickers can creep through various loopholes in the system. Now the war is over. Therefore, there are increased fishing activities. Fishing boats can be used for this purpose. We fear for that”.

Traffickers adopt different methods to smuggle drugs into the country according to latest reports. On February 3, 2012, a young Thai woman with more than one kilo of cocaine carefully concealed in a way to look like a popular brand of chocolates was arrested by narcotics bureau officials of the airport.

According to the latest report compiled by the Board, some 29,796 arrests were made in the country in 2010, and 60% of them were above 30.