{"id":25493,"date":"2013-09-08T23:15:14","date_gmt":"2013-09-09T03:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=25493"},"modified":"2013-09-08T23:15:14","modified_gmt":"2013-09-09T03:15:14","slug":"is-sri-lanka-becoming-a-transshipment-hub-for-illegal-drugs-enroute-to-europe-from-pakistan-and-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=25493","title":{"rendered":"Is Sri Lanka Becoming a Transshipment Hub for Illegal Drugs Enroute to Europe from Pakistan and Afghanistan?"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ranga Jayasuriya<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Liberian flagged container vessel, MV Northern Power, left the Pakistani port of Karachi on 17 June. Five days later, the ship arrived at the Colombo Port. The ship, 264 metres in length and 32 metres in width, had a gross tonnage of 47,855 tonnes. Tucked away among its thousands of containers was one seemingly innocuous 40 feet container shipped by Sha industries of Karachi to an address in the Maligawatta Railway Quarters. The recipient was one Mohammed Kamil, a resident at the same address. According to documents produced to the Sri Lanka Customs, the container had a consignment of ceramic bathroom fittings, grease canisters and plastic goods. The consignment had been shipped on the guarantee that the payment would be made within 60 days after the shipment was delivered to the recipient. Only the senders knew that the shipment hidden in the container, in its street value, is worth more than the ship itself: 261 kg of brown sugar heroin, which was concealed in the container, is estimated to worth Rs 2.5 billion. The going rate for one kilo of brown sugar heroin is Rs 10 million, according to the Police Narcotic Bureau.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As the ship waded through the Indian Ocean, a Pakistani national approached a senior police officer in Colombo. The officer concerned was a star drug buster at one point of time in his career. The informant was not a saint, but he had a grudge to settle with someone else, who was equally notorious. The Pakistani informant was at one time a close confidant of Colombo underworld kingpin, Mama Asmin, who was killed by the police Special Task Force in July, this year. The informant was also an ex-member of the notorious Dawood Ibrahim group, a mafia syndicate named after its boss Dawood Ibrahim, one of the top 10 most wanted fugitives in the Forbes list.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani, who is now a member of the splinter group of the Dawood Ibrahim group held a grudge against his former bosses. He was willing to share a deadly secret, which would, initially, shock the police officer. The Pakistani national confided that Dawood Ibrahim group has been smuggling heroin to Sri Lanka for transhipment to Europe in a well-calibrated plan. He tipped off the officer that a ship was on its way to the Colombo Port. The police officer dutifully informed the Western Province Police Intelligence Unit, which, in turn, alerted the Police Narcotic Bureau.<\/p>\n

The ship, Northern Power, anchored at the Colombo Port, unloaded its cargo and left.<\/p>\n

Suspicions<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the meantime, Sri Lanka Customs felt suspicious about a container that had been laying at the South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT) of the Colombo Port. The Customs Revenue Task Force issued notice to seize the container and the Police Narcotic Bureau was also informed.<\/p>\n

As Customs and police narcotic sleuths laid their eyes on the container, the intended recipient of the cargo, Mohammed Kamil, had been faced with an unexpected trouble. He was required to obtain a licence from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for the import of grease cans. The consignment has been shipped without obtaining the licence and the issuance of the licence, true to the Sri Lankan style proved to be an exhausting process. Kamil tried to bribe a wharf clerk. The Rs 400,000, which was initially offered, was increased to Rs 900,000 to expedite the process.<\/p>\n

Kamil also set up a company, incorporated under the Department of Registrar of Companies.<\/p>\n

The company, Rohan Impex, was registered on 3 July using a Maligawatte Railway Quarters address.<\/p>\n

That was two weeks after the container was shipped from Karachi, Pakistan to this address on 17 June.<\/p>\n

The documents submitted to the Registrar of Companies stated the business venture had been in existence for two years. However, police investigators said no business transaction had been carried out through the company other than importing the container.<\/p>\n

Customs sleuths feared that any measure to open the idling container, in the absence of its intended recipient, would alert the alleged smugglers. They set bait for the smuggler and waited. On 28 August, Mohammed Kamil, the intended recipient of the cargo arrived at the Customs office and furnished the documents to effect that the container contained ceramic bathroom fittings and building materials, grease cans and plastic goods. Kamil was told to pay Rs 590,000 as import taxes and to return on 30 August to take delivery of the container at the Orugodawatta yard.<\/p>\n

On 29 August, the container was opened in the presence of Director General of Customs, Jagath P. Wijeweera, Director Customs Revenue Task Force, Mali Piyasena, Director Police Narcotic Bureau, SSP Kamal Silva, and Mohammed Kamil, Pakistani nationals Jameel Cassim and a second man, who was identified as Rizwan, who served as the translator for Jameel.<\/p>\n

Inside grease cans <\/strong><\/p>\n

The container was packed with ceramic materials and plastic goods, which were valued at Rs 1 million. In addition, there were some 17,500 grease cans. The tins had been sealed during their production. The custom officials removed the lid of grease canisters one by one. First five hundred canisters did not produce any evidence of transgression. As the officials opened the 501 can, they found a cache of powdered substance, wrapped in polythene and concealed inside gel content of the can. The officers identified the substance as brown sugar heroin.<\/p>\n

Astounded, they continued, until they inspected all the canisters. In the process, they unearthed parcels of heroin from 1,262 tins. Each parcel contained 200g of powered substance carefully wrapped by polythene and placed inside the grease content in the can. The heroin is believed to have been inserted into the cans during the manufacturing process by its Pakistani manufacturer. The cache weighted 262kg, the largest heroin bust in South Asia.<\/p>\n

The three suspects were immediately arrested and were produced before the court on Friday.<\/p>\n

Investigators believe that Kamil was only a cat\u2019s paw, used by big time drug smugglers. Kamil, according to his confession, had been duped by the Pakistanis who told him that he was taking delivery of a cargo of plastic goods. The Pakistanis have also deposited Rs 590,000 in Kamil\u2019s bank account in order for him to pay Custom clearance dues.<\/p>\n

However, Jameel is a big fish in the mafia syndicate, investigators say. Jameel and Rizwan have spent lavishly during their stay in Sri Lanka and the investigators, who raided their hotel rooms, have found metal tea boxes. Officials believe the smugglers planned to reship the consignment to Europe, concealed in tea boxes. <\/p>\n

Well-placed police sources said they were planning to arrest three millionaire local businessmen, based on information provided by the three suspects. Police said investigation into phone records of the two Pakistanis have revealed that they have made regular calls to the businessmen in question.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani Police are expected to arrive in the island to assist their local counterpart in investigations.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the latest discovery has raised concerns that Sri Lanka is becoming a transhipment hub for illegal drugs that are enroute to Europe from Pakistan and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

In 2010, Sri Lanka Customs seized 121 pounds of heroin concealed in fake potatoes. In a separate incident last year, a Thai woman was arrested along with 1.7 kg of cocaine. On another instance, a Filipino woman was arrested with 3.3 kg of cocaine at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake.<\/p>\n


\nWho is Dawood Ibrahim?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dawood Ibrahim is the leader of Indian organized crime syndicate D-Company in Mumbai. He is currently on the wanted list of Interpol for organized crime and counterfeiting.<\/p>\n

An Indian court has recently issued a warrant on Dawood Ibrahim for spot fixing crime in IPL.<\/p>\n

D-Company is a term coined by the media for the organized criminal group controlled by wanted terrorist and crime boss Dawood Ibrahim. D-Company is directly linked to a range of organized criminal and terrorist activities in Pakistan, India, and the United Arab Emirates. Several members of the group are on the terrorist and\/or wanted persons list produced by Interpol.<\/p>\n

Dawood Ibrahim is accused of heading a vast and sprawling illegal empire in and against India and Indians. After the 1993 Mumbai bombings, which Ibrahim allegedly organized and financed, he became India\u2019s most wanted man. According to the United States, Ibrahim maintained close links with al-Qaeda\u2019s Osama Bin Laden. As a consequence, the United States declared Dawood Ibrahim a \u2018global terrorist\u2019 in 2003 and pursued the matter before the United Nations in an attempt to freeze his assets around the world and crack down on his operations.<\/p>\n

Dawood Ibrahim was living in Pakistan until April 2013 when he reportedly had left the country. He is now believed to be living in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

COURTESY:CEYLON TODAY<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ranga Jayasuriya The Liberian flagged container vessel, MV Northern Power, left the Pakistani port of Karachi on 17 June. Five days later, the ship arrived at the Colombo Port. The ship, 264 metres in length and 32 metres in width, had a gross tonnage of 47,855 tonnes. Tucked away among its thousands of containers …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Is Sri Lanka Becoming a Transshipment Hub for Illegal Drugs Enroute to Europe from Pakistan and Afghanistan?’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25493"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25494,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25493\/revisions\/25494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}