Heroin smuggling school teacher, husband nabbed in Anuradhapura

By B.G. Chaturanga

A lady teacher of a leading school in Anuradhapura town and her husband, an employee of a holiday resort, were arrested by the Anuradhapura Police on suspicion of their involvement in drug peddling.

The teacher, 26, is from Wariyapola and her husband, 28, from Kegalle.

They had in their possession a stock of 120 grams of heroin at the time of arrest. Police said the couple was residing at a rented house in Anuradhapura to carry on the racket. Under interrogation, the suspects revealed that the stock of heroin was valued at about Rs. 10 million.

Investigations revealed that they had been carrying on the racket for about one year and that they had recently offered special discounts between Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 500 on a packet of heroin to mark the anniversary of their contraband trade. Police said the suspects had expected an increasing demand from visitors to the Anuradhapura area during the Poson festival

Police carried out the raid on a tip-off from an informant and arrested the suspects. The police seized a motorcycle used by the suspects to distribute illegal drugs in different areas.

The suspects stated that a drug trafficker in the Kurunegala area was the supplier of the drugs. Police said that the suspects had different hiding places in Anuradhapura town and the sacred area for packets of drugs to be collected on orders by buyers of bulk stocks and drug addicts.

A senior police official said the stock of heroin was the largest ever seized during the “Yukthiya” operation in the Anuradhapura area. The suspects were to be produced before the Anuradhapura Magistrate.

OIC Anti Vice Squad SI Sagara Ranasinghe, SI Bandara, WSI Kusala and Sergeant 48350 Saman carried out the raid and arrested the suspects on the instructions of HQI Anuradhapura CI R.M. Jayaweera, SP Anuradhapura Division Thilina Hewapathirana and DIG North Central Division Laksiri Wijesena.