WAR ON DRUG MENACE HEIGHTENED

The proliferation of heroin has assumed such alarming proportions that
the new President Mahinda Rajapakse in the Mahinda Chintana has vowed
to eradicate the drug menace.

The government policy in eradicating drugs is now clearly stipulated
in the Mahinda Chintana. The state will now mobilise its resources to
combat this menace which had plagued the country for so long. A period
of three years have been allotted to achieve this task.

Police say that things are now hotting up for drug lords and
traffickers after IGP Chandra Fernando declared war on them in keeping
with the state policy.

As usual it was a busy schedule for the top drug buster, Ananda
Hettiarchchi, Director, Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) last week. He
was in the midst of a seminar in Colombo when his cellular mobile
phone rang. The caller at the other end was a top official from the
Narcotics Control Board, Chennai.

He knew Hettiarachichi well and had something urgent and important to
tell him. The telephone call from the Indian Narcotics Control Board
was regarding a Sri Lankan courier. It was a valuable piece of
information regarding a Sri Lankan drug courier and a fugitive named
Hilmi, who was wanted by the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) Sri Lanka.

The Indian Narcotics Control Board (NCB) which has had close links
with the Sri Lankan Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) usually passes
important information to the PNB. This had been happening over the
years.

Both agencies often exchange valuable information regarding drug
couriers that often cris cross the borders of the two countries. They
also closely monitor the movements of couriers and their contacts.

The Indian official which kept track of Hilmy throughout his stay in
prison was able to tell his Sri Lankan counterpart that he was to be
released from prison after serving a ten year sentence. Hilmy was to
travel to Sri Lanka by Chennai - Colombo bound flight on November 27
around 10.p.m.

He even described the clothes that Hilmy was wearing. Armed with
credible information regarding a notorious drug courier they were
looking for, SSP Ananda Hettiarachchi gave prompt instructions to his
sleuths to rush to the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) that
night and arrest Hilmy when he arrives at the passenger lounge.

Several PNB officials that evening rushed to the BIA that day and took
positions at vulnerable points to make sure the drug courier won't
slip away. PNB sleuths waited anxiously with their fingers crossed for
the Chennai - Colombo flight. The PNB team was led by a senior police
officer.

Finally when the flight arrived at the BIA around 11 p.m., sleuths
kept a close watch on disembarking passengers. Finally they spotted
Hilmy and his wife at the Immigration counter. Hilmy had even changed
his clothes during the flight to dodge the police. The sleuths walked
up to him and arrested him without any hassle. He was then hand cuffed
and whisked away in a police vehicle under heavy armed escort.

Incidently Hilmy was arrested almost ten years ago at the BIA on
September 10,1988 by Customs officials after arriving on a flight from
India. His attempt to smuggle in 1 kg and 12 grams of heroin was foiled.

He was later handed over to the PNB for further investigations. The
PNB produced the suspect before the Negombo Magistrate who remanded
him till inquiries were completed. Meanwhile something unusual
happened on October 26,1988. While Hilmy was being escorted to the
National Hospital Colombo by the Prison authorities for treatment, he
managed to escape from custody.

Subsequently PNB sleuths came to know that Hilmy had left to India by
boat from Mannar. They also came to know that he was living in
Chennai. PNB then alerted the Indian Narcotics Control Board officials
in Chennai to trace him.

Meanwhile back in Sri Lanka suspect Hilmy was tried in absentia before
the High Court Negombo and was sentenced to death on September 7,1993.
The courts thereafter issued an open warrant for his arrest.

The court order was later conveyed to the Narcotics Control Board in
India, to seek their assistance to trace and apprehend him. In the
meantime Hilmy was arrested in Chennai on December 21 1988 for
possession of heroin and was convicted and sentenced to a ten year
jail term by the Chennai courts.

The proliferation of heroin has assumed such alarming proportions that
the new President Mahinda Rajapakse in the Mahinda Chintana has vowed
to eradicate the drug menace.

The government policy in eradicating drugs is now clearly stipulated
in the Mahinda Chintana. The state will now mobilise its resources to
combat this menace which had plagued the country for so long.

A period of three years have been allotted to achieve this task.
Police say that things are now hotting up for drug lords and
traffickers after IGP Chandra Fernando declared war on them in keeping
with the state policy.

According to Police Narcotics Bureau's (PNB) Director, SSP Ananda
Hettiarachchi most drug dealers have gone underground or simply
disappeared after learning the grip on them have been tightened. A
recent survey shows a short fall of heroin owing to stocks not being
released by drug dealers for fear of being confiscated. Police suspect
that around 1020 kilos of heroin reach Sri Lanka but the bulk of it is
re-smuggled to other countries. It is also revealed that a large
amount of heroin is smuggled into uncleared areas and only a portion
of it comes to the western coast.

However things have now become easier to smuggle drugs from uncleared
areas due to few Naval patrols in the Palk -strait. Police say that
drug smuggling is rampant between the stretch of Mannar and Murunkan.
The recent detection of 10 kilos of heroin (brown sugar variety) by
the Sri Lanka Navy near the Kachchetive island is a case in point.

An attempt made by two Indian fishermen to smuggle 10 kilos of heroin
in dilapidated boat off the Kachchetive Island was foiled when they
were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy.

The couriers armed only with a cellular mobile phone were paid Rs
2,500 Indian currency to proceed to Kachchative island and hand over
the stuff to some other boatmen.

It had even become customary for drug lords to hire refugees from Sri
Lanka to act as couriers for low sums of money. There were enough Sri
Lankan refugees in places like Rameswaram and Tuticorin to act as
couriers, police say. This year around 40 kilos of heroin was detected
in Mannar alone.