From right to left: Athif, Shafaz, Athik and Shaheem. PHOTO/ POLICE
As a result of the recent breakthrough in a high profilenarcotics case in Maldives, the Sri Lankan Police has commenced investigationsinto a large scale drug trafficking network which is operated in Sri Lanka andMaldives.
Currently plans are being made by the police departments of the two countriesto coordinate with their investigations in order to thwart the ongoingnarcotics trade between Sri Lanka and Maldives.
This move comes in the light of the recent arrest of four key Maldivian drugtraffickers who had been using Colombo as a transit point to smuggle narcoticsinto Male.
The four who were arrested on June 23, by a special Maldivian narcotics team inan operation code named �Challenge�, have been identified as Hussein Athif,Ibrahim Shafaz Abdu Razzaq, Hussein Athik and Ismail Shameem who have beeninvolved in the smuggling of drugs via Colombo to Male since 2005.
A senior official from Sri Lanka�s Police Narcotics Bureau told Haveeru thatthe Sri Lankan officers have been coordinating with police officials in Maleand are continuing with the investigations on the recent arrests.
�Our department has been sharing information with the Maldivian authorities andwe have been working together with the objective of completely destabilisingthe Maldives-Lanka drug network. We have been successful in arresting many ofthose Sri Lankans and Maldivians who have been involved in this network,� hesaid.
�We have currently gathered vital details related to how the Maldives-Sri Lankadrug network operates and details on those who are involved in traffickingdrugs from Sri Lanka to Maldives. We suspect that amongst those involved arehigh profile Sri Lankan underworld gang leaders who are currently in ourcustody,� he said.
�We have interrogated many of these suspects and have also gathered severalleads from our informants. In the recent case we hope to also question theowners and shopkeepers of the money transfer agency which is in Colombo,� hesaid.
The Maldivian police recently revealed that money to a Sri Lankan based dealerwas sent through an authorised moneychanger A.J.E Emporium in Male, whicheventually transferred the money to a Sri Lankan money transfer agent, Gallery,which is a jewellery store located in a prominent shopping complex in Colombo.
In the backdrop of this finding by the Maldivian police, the Sri Lankanauthorities are currently probing if the money transfer agent, Gallery had beendirectly connected to the trafficking of the drugs.
On March 15, Haveeru exposed how sleuths from Sri Lanka�s Police NarcoticsBureau, had identified Maldivians residing in Sri Lanka who have been involvedin an international operation concerning the trafficking and distribution ofdrugs such as heroin, marijuana and hashish.
In the investigations conducted by the Police Narcotics Bureau, the fourMaldivians nationals who had been arrested had been identified previously. TheSri Lankan police investigations also revealed that the four Maldivians inquestion had been having close links to Sri Lankan drug lords who had beenwanted for the distribution of large quantities of heroin and hashish.
In 2008, two Sri Lankans were arrested with heroin, worth over US$1 million, inhidden compartments in their luggage as they entered the Male InternationalAirport. Last year the Sri Lanka�s Narcotics Bureau arrested a Maldivian womanwho was carrying 9kg of heroin.
Sri Lanka receives a bulk of its drugs, especially heroin from dealersoperating in India and Pakistan who use Sri Lanka as a trans-shipment hub forthe trafficking of narcotics, Haveeru reports.
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