Latest (Friday): Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force says the Colombo seizure was the second half of a two-port operation totalling 671kg, and the US Embassy’s account of how the container was found does not match the one Sri Lankan police gave. Jump to the latest update.

Police seized nearly 463 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, known as ‘Ice’, at the Colombo Port on Monday and put its street value at more than Rs. 8 billion. A businessman from Dematagoda has been arrested.

The raid was carried out jointly by the Police Narcotics Bureau and the Central Crime Investigation Bureau acting on information received, Ada Derana reported. Suspicious containers were inspected and opened with the assistance of Sri Lanka Customs, and the contents then weighed. Deputy Inspector General of Police Ashoka Dharmasena gave the quantity weighed so far as approximately 463 kilograms.

The figure rose three times in one day

The reported quantity climbed through Monday, and the outlets’ figures should be read against the time each filed rather than as contradictions.

Ada Derana, the Daily Mirror and Hiru News each first reported a consignment of suspected Ice found inside a container by Central Crime Investigation Bureau officers, with no quantity given. Ada Derana then put it at 420 kilograms alongside news of the arrest. NewsFirst reported more than 440 kilograms about half an hour later, and stated explicitly that weighing operations were still under way and the final quantity could change. Ada Derana’s evening filing gave 463 kilograms.

NewsFirst’s note that weighing was continuing accounts for the rising series. One point is not resolved: Ada Derana’s evening report describes narcotics recovered from two containers, while its own earlier filing and NewsFirst both refer to a single container.

Route and cover story

The two outlets carry different details of how the shipment reached Colombo, and neither set has been matched by the other.

Ada Derana reported that the consignment was brought into Sri Lanka from Pakistan, concealed inside towels packed in a container, and that the operation followed a court order. NewsFirst reported that the container arrived from Pakistan in June, was declared as a consignment of towels under a re-export arrangement, and that investigators believe the drugs were intended for onward shipment to Cameroon. NewsFirst gave the arrested suspect’s age as 44 and said investigators are working to trace the wider network behind the shipment.

Only Ada Derana has published a value for the haul or named an officer. Only NewsFirst has reported the June arrival date, the Cameroon destination or the re-export cover.

What has not been reported

No outlet has said when the suspect will be produced before court, on what charges he was arrested, or whether anyone else has been detained. None has reported which shipping line or agent handled the containers, or — if NewsFirst’s June arrival date is correct — why the containers were inspected only now.

Nor has any outlet placed the seizure against previous hauls at the port, so it is not clear from the reporting whether 463 kilograms is a record for Sri Lanka.

Update: three more arrested, including two Pakistani nationals

Three further suspects have been arrested over the seizure, two of them Pakistani nationals, Ada Derana reported on Monday evening. Four people are now in custody, counting the Dematagoda businessman detained earlier in the day.

Central Crime Investigation Bureau officers made the arrests at a hotel in Colombo, Hiru News reported. The Daily Mirror carried the arrests shortly afterwards. Ada Derana said investigations are continuing to establish who was responsible for importing the consignment and to identify others connected to the network.

That answers the first of the questions left open above. The remaining ones stand: no outlet has given the nationalities’ bearing on the charges, named any of the four, or said when they will be produced before court.

The containers were flagged to court two weeks before they were opened

Hiru’s account supplies a timeline none of Monday’s earlier reports carried. Police reported facts to court on the 17th after the CCIB received information about two suspicious containers at the port’s CICT terminal. The containers were opened on Monday the 31st, when officers found the contraband packaged as towel bundles and established that the shipment had originated in Pakistan.

Set against NewsFirst’s reporting that the container arrived from Pakistan in June, the sequence runs: arrival in June, a report to court on August 17, and inspection on August 31. Neither outlet explained the two-week gap between the court filing and the opening of the containers, or what the court was asked to authorise.

The container count is now settled

The discrepancy noted above — whether the drugs came from one container or two — resolves in favour of two. Ada Derana’s evening filing again describes narcotics recovered from two containers, and Hiru independently refers to two suspicious containers at the CICT terminal. The single-container references appeared only in the earliest reports, filed before the inspection was complete.

Ada Derana also attributed the operation to information received by the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the Crimes and Traffic Division, having earlier described it only as acting on information received.

Update (Tuesday): the figures move again

The quantity, the value and the number of people in custody all changed on Tuesday, and the two outlets reporting them do not agree.

Quantity. Hiru News put the stock at 472 kilograms. NewsFirst gave a more precise 471 kilograms and 200 grams. Both are above Monday’s 463 kilograms, which is consistent with weighing having continued overnight, as NewsFirst said on Monday it would.

Value. This is the wider gap. Hiru attributed to the Central Crime Investigation Bureau a valuation of more than Rs. 15 billion. NewsFirst put the street value at more than Rs. 8,000 million — that is Rs. 8 billion, the same figure Ada Derana reported on Monday against a smaller quantity. Neither outlet acknowledged the other’s number, and neither explained what changed. A near-doubling of the valuation on a two-percent increase in weight is not accounted for in either report.

Arrests. Hiru reported four in custody: the 44-year-old Dematagoda businessman who imported the containers, and three Pakistani nationals aged 33, 36 and 51 — one more Pakistani national than Monday’s reports had. NewsFirst reported five, three Pakistanis and two Sri Lankans, aged 44, 33, 36, 38 and 51.

The two lists reconcile. NewsFirst’s ages are Hiru’s four plus a 38-year-old, so the outlets differ by a single Sri Lankan suspect rather than describing different sets of people. NewsFirst said all five were arrested in Colombo and were due to be produced before court on Tuesday.

What Tuesday’s reports settle

Hiru’s account confirms the sequence set out above: the containers arrived by sea from abroad and sat in the port yard under a re-export arrangement; the CCIB received information about two suspicious containers at the CICT terminal and reported facts to court on the 17th; the Police Narcotics Bureau opened them with Customs assistance on Monday and found the drugs packed in packets and concealed inside a consignment of towels. The shipment originated in Pakistan.

Hiru also states plainly that the three Pakistani nationals were arrested at a Colombo hotel after questioning of the Dematagoda suspect — the first report to give the order in which the arrests followed one another. NewsFirst repeated that the container arrived last June and that investigators believe the load was to be transshipped to Cameroon, and described the case as a joint operation by the Colombo CCIB, Sri Lanka Customs and the Police Narcotics Bureau.

The suspects and the narcotics have been handed to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further investigation, Hiru said.

Still unresolved

Neither outlet gave the charges or addressed the Rs. 8 billion / Rs. 15 billion split, and neither said which valuation supersedes the other.

Update (Tuesday afternoon): police name a suspect and open a network inquiry

Ada Derana published its own Tuesday filing later in the day, and it is the most detailed account yet, reporting that police have launched an investigation into an international drug trafficking network. It puts the seizure at 472 kilograms, matching Hiru.

A suspect is named for the first time. The shipment was imported under the name of a Sri Lankan businessman, and a 44-year-old from Dematagoda identified as Arumugam Shashidharan was arrested, Ada Derana said. That is the same 44-year-old Dematagoda businessman described anonymously in every previous report.

Police name who they think sent it. Investigators suspect the consignment was despatched to Sri Lanka by a trafficker known as “Paravi Suda”, believed to be in Pakistan after fleeing Dubai. Two further figures, known as “Angoda Priyantha” and “Ruben”, are also suspected of involvement. These are police suspicions reported by a single outlet; no charges against any of the three have been reported, and none has been shown to have been arrested.

How the operation began. Senior Deputy Inspector General Ranmal Kodituwakku received information from a private informant based overseas that a container suspected of holding crystal methamphetamine was at the port. That names the officer the earlier reports referred to only by rank, and describes the source of the tip-off as an overseas private informant rather than a foreign agency. (The US Embassy has since given a different account of where the intelligence came from — see Friday’s update.)

The two-week gap is partly explained. Police obtained a court order on 28 August to inspect the container, Ada Derana said, and officers of the Police Narcotics Bureau and Sri Lanka Customs assisted in the search that followed. Set against the CCIB’s report of facts to court on 17 August and the opening of the containers on 31 August, that makes the sequence a three-step one — facts reported, order obtained eleven days later, container opened three days after that — rather than a single unexplained fortnight.

The chain of arrests. Questioning the Dematagoda businessman led investigators to two Pakistani nationals, whom Central Criminal Investigation Bureau officers arrested at an apartment complex in Colombo. The two told investigators the consignment had been arranged to be brought into Sri Lanka through the businessman’s company. Police are continuing to identify others involved.

Where Ada Derana conflicts with the other outlets

Three points do not match what Hiru and NewsFirst reported earlier the same day.

Destination. Ada Derana says the container was scheduled for re-export to Morocco, while investigators suspect the real intention was to bring the drugs into Sri Lanka. NewsFirst said the load was to be transshipped to Cameroon. Both are West or North African destinations for a shipment that originated in Pakistan, but they are different countries and neither outlet acknowledges the other’s.

Where the Pakistanis were arrested. Ada Derana places it at an apartment complex in Colombo; Hiru said a Colombo hotel.

How many Pakistanis. Ada Derana refers to two Pakistani nationals, consistent with its own Monday report and with NewsFirst’s list of three Pakistanis among five total. Hiru’s count of three Pakistani nationals aged 33, 36 and 51 remains unconfirmed by Ada Derana.

Ada Derana did not report the value of the haul, the total number now in custody, or whether any suspect has been produced before court. The Daily Mirror had still not published a Tuesday filing at the time of writing.

Update (Wednesday): five suspects held under seven-day detention orders

All five suspects are being questioned under seven-day detention orders and are in the custody of the Police Narcotics Bureau, NewsFirst reported on Wednesday morning.

That answers the question left open above. Tuesday’s reports said the five were due before court but none said what the court ordered; detention orders of this kind are issued by a magistrate to permit continued police custody for questioning, which places the five in custody by judicial order rather than on arrest alone.

The arrest count is settled at five

NewsFirst repeats the composition it gave on Tuesday — three Pakistani nationals and two Sri Lankan citizens, aged 44, 33, 36, 38 and 51 — and says all five are held by the Police Narcotics Bureau. No outlet has since restated Hiru’s count of four, and Ada Derana’s Tuesday filing referred to two Pakistani nationals without giving a total. Five is now the only figure attached to a court process.

The weight and value splits both survive

NewsFirst states the recovered narcotics weighed 471 kilograms and 200 grams, unchanged from its Tuesday figure. Ada Derana’s own “Most Read” listing was still carrying 472 kilograms on Wednesday. The eight-hundred-gram difference is trivial in itself, but neither outlet has corrected toward the other.

The valuation gap has not moved either. NewsFirst again puts the street value at more than Rs. 8,000 million, and for the first time gives a dollar equivalent: approximately US$24.37 million. That implies a conversion of roughly Rs. 328 to the dollar, a little stronger than the rate prevailing at the end of June. Hiru’s attribution to the Central Crime Investigation Bureau of a value above Rs. 15 billion — which would be about US$45 million — remains unreconciled and unrepeated.

The route account is now consistent

NewsFirst restates the shipment history without variation: the container arrived from Pakistan in June, declared as a consignment of towels under a re-export arrangement, and investigators believe it was intended for onward transport to Cameroon.

That leaves Ada Derana’s Tuesday statement that the container was scheduled for re-export to Morocco as the lone outlier on destination. Neither outlet has acknowledged the other’s country.

Still unreported: the charges, whether any suspect has been named in court, and whether the Dematagoda businessman identified by Ada Derana as Arumugam Shashidharan is among the five.

Update (Friday): the operation was international, and the tip-off account changes

Two foreign agencies have now described the Colombo seizure as one half of a co-ordinated operation run across two ports, and their accounts differ from the Sri Lankan police version on the most basic question in the case — how investigators knew the container was there.

The US Embassy says the intelligence came from the DEA and Pakistan’s ANF

The US Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Delhi Country Office and the Sri Lanka Police Narcotics Bureau conducted the operation jointly, disrupting what the embassy called a Pakistan-based network, EconomyNext reported, quoting a US Embassy statement issued on Wednesday.

The embassy’s own words, as published: officers acted “on intelligence developed by DEA’s Foreign Counterparts Unit Pakistan Anti-Narcotics Force Special Investigations Cell between August 14–29 on suspicious maritime containers moving from Pakistan to Colombo”, and the Police Narcotics Bureau then “seized approximately 463 kg of crystal methamphetamine — valued at $21 million — concealed in bath towels, and arrested several suspects.”

“This operation underscores the strength of the U.S.-Sri Lanka partnership in dismantling transnational criminal organizations that fund terrorism and threaten communities in both our countries,” the statement said. The embassy added that the co-operation builds on training and technical assistance provided to Sri Lanka Police and Customs through the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

This contradicts what police told Sri Lankan reporters. Ada Derana’s Tuesday account had Senior DIG Ranmal Kodituwakku receiving the tip from a private informant based overseas. The embassy describes intelligence developed by two state agencies working together over a fortnight. Neither account has been withdrawn, and no outlet has put the discrepancy to police.

The August 14–29 window is consistent with the Sri Lankan timeline rather than at odds with it: the CCIB reported facts to court on 17 August and obtained the inspection order on 28 August, both inside the period the DEA says it was tracking the containers.

Dawn reported the same embassy figure of $21 million and said the drugs were intended for international markets via Sri Lanka rather than for the local market — which is closer to the re-export accounts than to Ada Derana’s suggestion that investigators suspected the load was meant to stay in the country.

Pakistan says Colombo was the second half of a 671kg operation

Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force said on Friday that the two seizures together came to 671 kilograms, ARY News reported.

According to the ANF, it seized 200kg of methamphetamine from a container at Karachi Port in July 2026 and arrested two members of the network, including an alleged Afghan ringleader named Ehsanullah. Information obtained from questioning them was passed to Sri Lankan authorities and the DEA, and the Colombo seizure followed.

The ANF describes the network as Afghan and says the drugs were smuggled from Afghanistan, using Pakistani territory as a transit route to international markets. That sits against the US Embassy’s description of a Pakistan-based network. The two are not necessarily incompatible — a network can be run by Afghan nationals and operate through Pakistan — but neither agency uses the other’s wording.

The ANF said its role was formally acknowledged by both the Sri Lankan authorities and the DEA.

Three figures still do not reconcile, and a fourth has appeared

Value. The embassy’s $21 million is a third valuation, below NewsFirst’s US$24.37 million and far below the Rs. 15 billion — roughly US$45 million — Hiru attributed to the CCIB. No agency or outlet has addressed the spread.

Quantity. The embassy and Dawn use 463kg, the figure from Monday, while the ANF uses 471kg and Ada Derana and Hiru have used 472kg. The foreign statements appear to be working from the initial weight rather than the final one.

Arrests. The ANF says six members of the network were arrested in Sri Lanka. Every Sri Lankan account settles at five, and it is five who were placed under detention orders by a court. Dawn, filing on Wednesday, mentioned only two Pakistani men and one local man. The ANF’s higher figure is unexplained and has not been repeated by any Sri Lankan outlet.

Wider context from the Dawn report

Deputy Inspector General Ashoka Dharmasena said Sri Lanka’s anti-narcotics drive has yielded nearly 14 tonnes of illegal drugs since October, including methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala has told Parliament that most illegal drugs entering the country originate in Pakistan and Afghanistan and arrive by sea, and estimated there are about 400,000 drug users in Sri Lanka.

Dawn also notes that Sri Lanka’s largest single narcotics seizure remains the 800 kilograms of cocaine found by Customs in a container of timber destined for India in December 2016 — which answers, for the first time, the question raised above about whether this haul is a national record. It is not.

Still unresolved

No Sri Lankan outlet has yet carried the ANF statement or the 671kg total, and none has reported the Karachi seizure or named Ehsanullah. Police have not been asked to reconcile the private-informant account with the DEA’s. The charges against the five in custody are still unreported, and no outlet has said whether the trafficker Ada Derana named as “Paravi Suda” — believed to be in Pakistan — is connected to the network the ANF describes.

Sources