Customs seize Rs.90Mn worth medicines abused by schoolchildren as intoxicants

By Kuruluw Koojana Kariyakarawana   

A large batch of pharmaceutical drugs that is commonly used as a painkiller and also widely abused among addicts and schoolchildren as an intoxicant was seized by Sri Lanka Customs from a consignment smuggled into the country last week.   

The Customs Revenue Task Force (RTF) on information raided one of the warehouses in Colombo Port and found a shipment of medicines that had been imported without a valid licence of National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA).   

Customs Spokesperson Additional Director General Seevali Arukgoda said the shipment had arrived in Colombo Port from India last week and the preliminary inquiries had revealed that the importers did not bear an NMRA licence to import the medicines.   

The authorities found 1.8 million capsules of Pregeb 150 mg or the generic Pregabalin, an anticonvulsant medication used for epilepsy and severe neuropathic pain. The consignment, which was concealed inside 36 wooden speaker boxes, has a market value of Rs.90 million.   

According to sources, the smugglers target schoolchildren with this drug to lure them into addiction, so that the customer base is widened and a steady demand is maintained.   

Preliminary inquiries revealed that a businessman from Pettah had imported the consignment of medicines without licence. Director Customs RTF is conducting investigations on the instruction of Customs Director General P. B. Sarath Nonis.