PNB looks for Bangladesh links in biggest drug seizure
Police detectives are probing a possible link between two suspects who were arrested last week, in Wellawatte, in posession of a record 294.49 kilograms (kg) of heroin, and the Bangladeshi nationals who ran a safe house in Dehiwala, which was raided late late year. This was the largest single heroin haul (278kg) until last week's seizure in Wellawatte.
The suspects in the Wellawatte drug bust, 43-year-old Mohammad Basir and 32-year-old Mohammad Ashmir, were produced in the Fort Magistrate’s Court on Friday and remanded till March 15.
On a request made by the Police Narcotics Bureau ( PNB), the Fort Magistrate also issued open warrants for the arrest of five drug traffickers believed to be in hiding in Dubai after the Bureau informed court that investigations have revealed that they were behind the smuggling of the record heroin haul to Sri Lanka. Four of the five traffickers are Sri Lankans and the other is a Bangladeshi national.
Police identified the five traffickers as Anthony Micheal Morril of Kirulapone, Mohammed Shiran Batheek of Kalubowila, Jagamuni Sujeewa De Silva alias “Kosgoda Suji,” Makeem Abdul Raheem of Panadura and Ahamed Hussain (Bangladeshi national).
The PNB is hoping to issue “Blue Notices” through Interpol against the suspects. Blue Notices are issued to collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a crime.
Meanwhile, a separate Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe is ongoing to seize the assets of 24 key drug traffickers.
"We suspect that the two in custody from the Wellawatte arrest helped transport the heroin stock to the Dehiwala safe house from a location on the South Western coast near Beruwala - Aluthgama," a senior PNB detective told the Sunday Times on grounds of anonymity. The PNB suspects that both individuals had been tasked with transporting large consignments once they came ashore in Sri Lanka, for the Bangladeshi network.
Special Task Force (STF) Commandos and the PNB had found 278kg of heroin and 5kg of cocaine valued at Rs 3336 million at the Dehiwala safe house, while last week’s record heroin haul is estimated to be worth Rs. 2954 million. The value of the previous haul is higher than last week's haul although weighing less, as the former contained cocaine, which is far more expensive than heroin.
"The two mini vans taken into custody along with the suspects were rented from different owners, loaded with the baggage containing the packed heroin and parked in the parking lot at a mall. The keys to the vehicles had been left in a previously arranged location for the buyers to collect and the two suspects who drove the consignment to the location had been asked to leave prior to the buyers’ arrival," the PNB officer said explaining the modus operandi of the traffickers.
"These narco networks follow a similar structure and modus operandi like the LTTE suicide bomber cells," he opined, noting that each had his role and task and does not know or see the other actors in the network bar the handler.
"Another member of the network observes the transport team bring in the drugs and confirms that they have left the vicinity prior to informing the kingpin abroad that the stage is set for the transaction. The kingpin then alerts another member in Sri Lanka to inform the buyers where the vehicles are parked once the money changes hands," he claimed, pointing out that such networks use several layers of members to insulate the core group from being easily exposed.
"These criminals use encrypted communication Apps on smart phones and quickly leave the country if they suspect that they are under surveillance," he pointed out.
The breakthrough that led to the dismantling of the Bangladeshi network was the arrest of a 27- year- old Bangladeshi national at a branch of a popular pizza restaurant in Mount Lavinia last December. She led police to an apartment in Ratmalana that had 31kg of heroin stashed there.
The suspect had been meticulous and disciplined in her work and had routinely performed counter surveillance tactics to identify any PNB operatives who were following her or to mislead them, the PNB source elaborated.
However, the persistence of PNB sleuths had paid off, allowing them to gather evidence of her involvement in the sale of heroin.
The suspect had frequented big shopping malls in Colombo and mingled with the crowd and shopped for clothes and accessories prior to meeting with buyers. The heroin was sold, concealed in a box of cake.
Several dozen of such cakes of a vacuumed packed variety were found discarded in a garbage pile at the Dehiwala safe house that was later raided by police and where they found 278kg of heroin along with 5kg of cocaine.
The two Bangladeshi nationals who were arrested at the Dehiwala safe house had routinely held 'parties' in the evening where loud music was played over powerful speakers to mask the sound of commercial grade blenders used to recycle old stocks of heroin, the PNB source said.
"Many of the neighbors of the Dehiwala property had no idea what was happening at the house. The activity of three wheelers, late night parties and strangers visiting the address had not raised any suspicions. The public needs to be more vigilant," the source stressed.
Recent successes by law enforcement authorities come against the backdrop of long running intelligence operations. "We cannot overstate the importance of intelligence, intelligence sharing and networking with foreign counterparts" he emphasized, claiming that the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Australian Federal Police, Interpol and other international stakeholders were working closely with Sri Lankan authorities.
"Our best asset is our field operatives. They make up for our gaps in technology with good surveillance and human intelligence," he claimed.
The PNB officer also said that Sri Lanka needed to intensify its maritime surveillance on an urgent basis.
According to the Fisheries Department, Sri Lanka has nearly 4000 deep sea fishing vessels which do not have a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) transponders which enable them to be effectively tracked and monitored while at sea.
These vessels are regularly used to fish in territorial waters and within the 200 km Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but have the capability to venture in to high seas beyond the EEZ. However, the Fisheries Department operates a monitoring centre to track nearly 1500 registered vessels with VMS that have a licence to fish in International Waters," said Fisheries Department Director (Operations) Kalyani Hewapathirana.
Ms Hewapathirana claimed that the Department was looking to equip with VMS many of the fishing fleet that do not carry VMS, and pointed out that the Department has granted permission to the Sri Lanka Navy and the law enforcement authorities to use the system to track criminal activity at sea. The high cost of the GPS-based modern VMS systems has been a prohibitive factor in equipping the fleet, she pointed out.
While, Sri Lanka has made some notable headway in its counter narcotic efforts in recent years, regionally other stakeholders have been more proactive since the early 2000s. Since December last year, 22 tons of narcotics have been intercepted in the Arabian Gulf and the western Indian ocean by Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 under Canadian leadership.
CTF 150 is a multinational naval task force based out of Bahrain under the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). An initiative led by the United States it was established in 2001 as part of the global 'War on Terror'.
The French warship FS Cassard seized and destroyed 2,031 kg of hashish in the northern Arabian Sea in international waters off the coast of Oman on February 22.
Earlier, on January 31, the Cassard seized and destroyed over 665kg of heroin. A Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat also of CTF 150, seized and destroyed 2,065 kg of hashish and 340 kg of heroin during two boarding operations on January 28 and 29. The CTF 150 focused operation Marhaba has Canadian, French, UK, US, Pakistani and Australian Naval vessels, assets and personnel patrolling a vast stretch of the Indian Ocean.
The detection of 22 tons of narcotics including more than a ton of heroin by CTF 150 at sea and the nearly 600kg of heroin detected on shore by Sri Lankan law enforcement and security forces in the first two months of this year indicate the sheer magnitude of the problem.