3 Bangladeshis caught in Sri Lanka drug scam

Two Bangladeshis have been caught in the biggest drug haul ever of Sri Lanka’s recent history. A total of 272 kgs of heroin and 5 kgs of cocaine were found in their possession.

Sri Lanka’s law enforcement agencies nabbed them during a special operation in the Mount Lavinia area in the suburbs of capital Colombo. The value of the confiscated drugs is estimated to be around 1.52 billion taka.

The two Bangladeshi’s caught in the operation are Mohammed Jamaluddin of Bogura and Rafiul Islam of Joypurhat.

The narcotics unit of Sri Lanka’s police force and a special task force carried out the drive last month, December.

Prior to this, a Bangladeshi woman, Surjamoni, had been arrested in possession of 32 kgs of heroin on 14 December in the same suburb of Colombo. She had reportedly gone to Colombo from Malaysia in October last year.

A foreign ministry official in Dhaka on Tuesday said that the arrest of three Bangladeshis in possession of 304 kgs of heroin and 5 kgs of cocaine in a matter of one month had created a sensation in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan authorities had hinted that such activities may hamper issuing visas for Bangladeshi nationals.

The Sri Lanka’s president’s office, the inspector general of the country’s police force and the head of the police’s special task force have contacted the Bangladesh high commission in Colombo regarding this huge haul of smuggled narcotics.

Bangladesh’s high commissioner in Sri Lanka M Reaz Hamidullah, over mobile phone told Prothom Alo, the Sri Lankan government has sought Bangladesh’s cooperation regarding investigations into the drug smuggling.

Bangladesh always maintains a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism and drugs, he said. "It would extend all possible cooperation to Sri Lanka to investigate the drug smuggling."

The high commissioner said the embassy officials would hold a meeting with the Sri Lankan authorities on 3 January in this regard.

In the meantime, Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror on Tuesday quoted the country’s police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara as saying that the two Bangladeshis, Jamal and Rafiul, were first caught with 9 kgs of heroin in a residential area on Temple Road in Mount Lavinia. The heroin had been stashed in a cake box.

After interrogation, the two men were taken to a two-storey house in the locality where the law enforcement officers were stunned to see packets of heroin all over the place.

They recovered 263 kg of heroin and 5 kgs of cocaine from there. The value of this amounted to around 3.33 billion Sri Lankan rupees or 1.52 billion Bangladeshi taka.

The Sri Lankan police and special task force feel the drugs were being distributed all over the country from this house.