Police have arrested three people, including a married couple, with a consignment of heroin and crystal methamphetamine valued at more than Rs. 300 million in the Bokundara area of Piliyandala.
Officers of the Western Province North Crime Division carried out the raid in the Thumbowila area of the Piliyandala police division on Thursday (24), Newswire reported. Hiru News reported the same operation and the same valuation.
What was seized
Police recovered 11.69 kilogrammes of heroin and 6.90 kilogrammes of “Ice”, the street name for crystal methamphetamine. Hiru News gives the rounded figures of 11 kg and 6 kg.
The two precise figures sum to 18.59 kg, although Newswire’s own headline describes the haul as “over 17 kg” — a total consistent with the rounded numbers rather than the itemised ones.
The suspects
The three detained are two men aged 24 and 31 and a 27-year-old woman, residents of Dehiwala, Embilipitiya and Wegowwa.
According to police, one of the men is alleged to have been directly involved in trafficking, while the other man and the woman are suspected of aiding and abetting the operation. Hiru News reports that the couple told police the stock belonged to the son of an organised crime figure and was to be distributed in the Piliyandala and Nugegoda areas.
The three were due to be produced before the Hulftsdorp Magistrate’s Court, with police expected to seek detention orders for further questioning.
How the raid came about
Newswire reports that the operation followed information obtained while questioning another suspect previously arrested with heroin and held under detention orders.
Hiru News gives a fuller account, saying the arrests followed the interrogation of seven suspects detained with firearms and narcotics on 12 and 18 September by the same Western Province North Crime Division under detention orders. The two accounts are compatible in substance; they differ in how many earlier suspects they describe.
The Western Province North Crime Division is continuing investigations. None of the allegations has been tested in court.
Update — 26 September: detention orders issued, woman remanded
The court stage has now been settled. NewsFirst reported on Saturday (26) that two of the suspects are being investigated under seven-day detention orders, while the female suspect arrested in connection with the raid has been remanded.
That accounts for all three people detained in the raid and resolves the question left open in the initial reports, which said only that police were expected to seek detention orders. NewsFirst’s headline refers to “two suspects” because it counts only those held under detention orders, not the woman remanded separately.
NewsFirst confirms the other core facts independently: the raid was carried out by the Western Province North Crime Division at Bokundara, Piliyandala, the haul was valued at Rs. 300 million, and officers seized “over 11 kilograms” of heroin and “more than 6 kilograms” of ICE. Those rounded figures match Hiru News rather than the itemised 11.69 kg and 6.90 kg reported by Newswire.
Not reported
None of the reports names the organised crime figure said to own the consignment, states whether he has been identified or arrested, or explains how the Rs. 300 million valuation was arrived at. NewsFirst does not name the court that issued the detention orders or ordered the remand.
