කෝටි 450ක් වටිනා මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය පසුපස ඉන්නේ කවුද? පලාගිය සැකකරුවන් සොයා මෙහෙයුම්...

Daily Mirror and Newswire report that the Navy and Coast Guard recovered heroin and crystal methamphetamine in a joint operation at Naotunna Beach, in Matara’s Thalalla area, on Saturday the 24th. Sri Lanka Mirror describes the site as Talalla beach and says the joint search uncovered bags believed to contain drugs.

Newswire says testing by the Police Narcotics Bureau established a total of 561.705 kilograms: 321.941 kilograms of heroin and 239.764 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, also called Ice. The drugs were packed into 275 heroin parcels and 200 Ice parcels, found among nine large sacks, one smaller sack and 11 travel bags. Newswire estimates their street value at more than Rs. 11.8 billion.

Newswire reports that intelligence about a consignment coming ashore prompted the operation. Personnel arriving at the location saw three people transferring a suspicious load from a dinghy toward land, but they escaped before officers reached them. Further inquiries connected the boat to a Devinuwara resident, Newswire says; police searched the resident’s home but found that he had left the area. Police identified two suspects, according to Newswire.

Newswire reports that the seized drugs and dinghy were transferred to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further legal action, and that the bureau is pursuing the investigation. The outlet says Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala, Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekara and Navy Commander Vice Admiral Damian Fernando were among officials who inspected the haul.

Newswire reports that Jayasekara said Navy and Coast Guard operations had seized drugs estimated at Rs. 97 billion over the preceding year. He said the armed forces, police, Special Task Force and local and overseas intelligence services would continue operations to stop drugs entering Sri Lanka, and asked the public to share trafficking information using hotlines 1818 or 1997.

Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.