Sri Lanka battles continuous narcotics flow from Pakistan

Earlier this week, a special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane brought back over 40 Pakistani prisoners from Colombo to Islamabad. All the prisoners were convicted of drug charges in Sri Lanka and will now complete their sentences in a Rawalpindi jail in Pakistan.

The prisoners, all of whom were held for various drug-related offences, included six women inmates. They were to serve sentences ranging from 10-15 years, which they will now complete in their home country.

Not just did a special PIA plane bring back the convicts, they were also accorded a farewell by the Pakistan High Commissioner Maj Gen Muhammad Saad Khattak (Retd), who addressed the prisoners at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

<img class="wp-image-20391 size-full" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/DrugsPakistanSriLanka-2.jpg" alt="Drugs_Pakistan_Sri Lanka" width="792" height="696" /> A tweet by the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, where the High Commissioner is addressing Pakistani drug convicts (Photo: Twitter/@PakistaninSL)

According to a tweet by the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, Khattak advised the convicts to refrain from committing crimes in the future and "to lead a better life with their loved ones after reaching Pakistan." The prisoners too thanked their High Commissioner for the help extended in pursuing the long and technical repatriation process.

Pakistan was in the news for the second time in just two weeks over its complicity in facilitating drug trade in the Indian Ocean island nation. Just last week, in an interview to the <em>Daily Mirror</em>, Sri Lanka, Afghan Ambassador in Colombo M. Ashraf Haidari had said that Taliban-produced drugs are entering Sri Lanka through Pakistan.

To a pointed question on Sri Lanka and Afghanistan partnering for combating drug-trafficking, Haidari said: "Yes, there is much that we can do together to fight narcotics, including its cultivation, production and trafficking to Sri Lanka and the rest of South Asia. That is why we have welcomed the appointment of Ambassador-Designate Piyal De Silva, who, as a former Navy Commander, possesses relevant counter-narcotics experience, and we look forward to working with him to develop the necessary security and law enforcement institutional ties to stem the flow of Taliban-produced drugs to Sri Lanka through Pakistan."

The Pakistan High Commission immediately reacted to the Afghan ambassador's statement. It said: "Drug trafficking is a serious crime and Pakistan has taken numerous steps to check the narco trade. It has a potent Anti-Narcotics Force and has been pursuing the fencing of Pakistan Afghanistan Border rigorously to not only check cross border terrorism but to arrest the possibility of narco traders slipping through its porous borders." It also said that poppy cultivation has increased under the current Afghan government as compared to the Taliban regime.

<img class="wp-image-20395 size-full" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/DrugsPakistanSriLankaNavyTwitter.jpg" alt="Drugs_Pakistan_SriLankaNavy_Twitter" width="790" height="538" /> Sri Lanka Navy shows narcotics seized from Pakistani vessel in Indian Ocean (Photo: Twitter @srilanka_Navy)

However, irrespective of how Pakistan tries to absolve itself of the narco-trade and paints itself as a victim, the reality is that the Sri Lankan Navy had in April made the country's largest-ever haul of narcotics and had arrested nine Pakistanis for transporting drugs worth $65 million in the Indian Ocean.

Acting on information, the Sri Lankan Navy raided a vessel sailing between Maldives and Sri Lanka and made its biggest seizure of drugs. Addressing the media in Colombo, Navy Commander Piyal de Silva had said: “The Navy had made advance preparations for this particular operation on receiving a satellite image of a suspected vessel provided by an international agency. The Directorate of Naval Operations with the assistance of SLN intelligence drew the blue prints of this entire operation as the location of the suspected vessel was regularly updated.” He added that all nine crew members who were Pakistan nationals were arrested.

In a major embarrassment for Pakistan, in a cryptic tweet the Sri Lankan Navy said: "Navy brought the seized foreign vessel ashore along with 605 kg of #CrystalMeth and 579 kg of #Ketamine. The 09 crew members were found to be Pakistanis. @UNODC_MCP @UNODC #DRUGS #SriLanka #lka

The website of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry says that in a similar drug haul in February, the Sri Lankan Navy had seized 400 kg heroin and 100 kg methamphetamine from another Pakistani boat. In 2019, Sri Lanka had confiscated 4,418 kg narcotics, while in the first quarter of 2020 itself it seized over 4,000 kg narcotics. With so much happening on the drug front between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the authorities in the island nation are worried.

<img class="wp-image-20394 size-full" src="https://indianarrative.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/MODP5460.jpg" alt="PakistanDrugsSriLanka" width="650" height="433" /> Photograph by the Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka shows drugs seized from a Pakistani vessel by Sri Lanka Navy (Photo: Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka)

In August, Sri Lanka accepted Chemical Detection Devices (CDDs) from Australia to enable its police to detect explosives, chemicals, narcotics, white powders and similar other banned chemicals. The CDDs will also help Sri Lanka combat global terrorism, organized crimes and narcotic trafficking.

The repeated narcotics seizures have pointed to the role the Pakistani drug cartels in large-scale drug smuggling via sea routes. The seizures on the high seas reveal that heroin is being processed in laboratories in Pakistan from the raw materials sourced from Afghanistan. It is believed that these vast quantities of drugs cannot be smuggled out of Pakistan without active connivance of its navy and coast guard. Over the last few years Pakistanis have been arrested in a number of countries in Africa and Asia for their involvement in the illegal drugs trade..