Indo-lanka heroin smugglers brought to trial

The trial of nine fishermen including five Indians, for allegedly smuggling drugs into Sri Lanka commenced on Friday before High Court Judge Preethi Padman Surasena.

The fishermen were arrested on November 28, 2011, off the Northern coast for allegedly smuggling 955 grm of heroin.

Sri Lanka Navy Lt Cmd. Charitha Gunawantha told court that they were on duty at Delft, off Jaffna, when they spotted a suspicious looking Sri Lankan dinghy usually used for fishing close to the sea limit.

“There were no other boats near this one, and they weren’t fishing, so we found this suspicious. However, due to poor light, we couldn’t observe the activities within the boat, but using my night vision camera, I was able to see that the boat was moving slowly,” he said.

He observed the boat move towards some Indian trawlers and a parcel handed over to the local boat.

Lt. Cmd. Gunawantha said that, when they approached the boats, a parcel was broken and thrown into the sea. “We boarded the dinghy and arrested the occupants. We were also able to retrieve the parcel thrown overboard, which con- tained heroin,” he explained.

The arrested locals are Bothurasa Kamal Christy, Thivarasa Nielson and Gnanaprakasa Dushyanth and the arrested Indian fishermen are Mariyalolu Samerson, Rayappan Wilson, Thulan Sami Prasadh, Sanpritu Selvalangam and Pillindran.

Senior State Counsel Madawa Tennakoon and State Counsel Shamindra Wickrema appeared for the State.

The trial continues.