Sri Lanka seizes drugs smuggled from Afghanistan, Pakistan

Colombo, March 12 (IANS) The Sri Lankan police have seized a large haul of drugs in the capital that was smuggled into the island country from Afghanistan and Pakistan in January.

Police officials said that the drugs — heroin weighing over 170 kg along with 2,700 rounds of ammunition — were seized from Moratuwa in Colombo and that a large group was behind the smuggling racket, Xinhua news agency reported. The heroin was valued at an estimated $10 million.

A police official said this recovery was one of the largest seized in the country following the large haul of 294 kg heroin in February. Security had been beefed up around the area since Monday night.

Sri Lankan investigators, on the instructions of President Maithripala Sirisena, have since January launched a severe crackdown on drug dealers and smugglers, with several arrests being made within the past two months, the report said.

Last month, Sirisena said he would impose the death penalty on convicted drug traffickers within the following two months after he vowed to free the country from the drug menace by 2020.

–IANS
soni/