Dinayadura Dulip Samantha de Silva, the main suspect in the major drug trafficking racket arrested in Yatiyantota on December 6, was remanded till December 20th on Friday, (December 10). Silva, (44) and a resident of Beruwala, was arrested with two others when they attempted to smuggle 231kg of heroin and Rs. 1.5 million in cash. Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) Director, T.C.A. Dhanapala said the CID was requested to launch an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The PNB is conducting a separate investigation into the drug trafficking.
“We found that a man from Seychelles is involved in the racket. Heroin is smuggled from Pakistan via Seychelles into Sri Lanka,” Dhanapala said, adding that the racket has been carried out for couple of years.
The main suspect had owned 11 trawlers used to smuggle humans and drugs, but has sold nine of them as a result of his addiction to gambling.The police are on the hunt for five suspects connected to the same racket who are believed to have fled in a trawler.
During the police mission to bust the racket, Silva has jumped from a trawler he was fleeing into the Kelani River but was later apprehended by the officials attached to the Yatiyantota police.