Setback to smuggling operations; three politicos in a quandary

3 December 2014 04:29 pm Views - 2896

There was a high official whose main job was to keep a watchful eye on attempts to smuggle heroin and ethanol into the country.

He did seize hauls of heroin and ethanol in a series of successful detections which received much media publicity. And government politicians started crowing that the government was well on the way to eliminate the smuggler rings in the country for good. Both the official and the government in general won bouquets for this good effort for a brief time.

However, heroin and ethanol shipments continued to pour into the country and drug trafficking and the manufacture of illicit liquor continued unabated. Only a very few people knew the reason for this paradoxical situation; massive hauls of heroin and ethanol were reaching the underworld undetected, because the particular high official had been well paid to turn a blind eye to these operations carried out by three ring leaders --  all politicians. The official who became a multi-billionaire overnight enjoyed such patronage from powerful politicians, even the head of his department feared to challenge his dubious conduct, they say.
Alas! The official had to go on retirement recently. His successor is said to be an honest man who is not prepared to sell his soul. The three kingpins now in a quandary are said to be scheming to replace the new official with a puppet of their choice.

The names of the three kingpins are now an open secret, they say. One hails from Matale, another from Kurunegala and the third one from a town north of Negombo.