The Sri Lanka Navy has arrested 12 people and seized more than 14,000 sea cucumbers during a search operation in Mannar.
The operation was carried out on Tuesday (28) by personnel attached to SLNS Gajaba of the North Central Naval Command, acting on what the Navy described as credible intelligence. In its own account of the operation, the Navy said the search covered South Bar beach and the adjoining coastal areas of Mannar.
Naval personnel inspected three suspicious dinghies and two motorcycles, which led to the discovery of a consignment of 14,072 sea cucumbers. The Navy said the haul had been brought in by sea and was being prepared for onward transport overland without the permits required to move it.
The dinghies and motorcycles were seized along with the consignment. The 12 suspects, aged between 24 and 46, were identified as residents of Mannar.
The suspects and the seized items were handed over to the Assistant Directorate of Fisheries in Mannar for further legal action, placing the case with fisheries regulators rather than police.
Coastal interdictions of this kind are a recurring part of the Navy’s work along the north-western seaboard, where small dinghies are used to run goods ashore. The Navy’s published operations record shows a comparable seizure on July 24 off Karukapane beach in Chilaw, where personnel recovered about 3,135kg of smuggled kendu leaves along with three dinghies.
Neither the Navy nor Ada Derana put a value on the seized sea cucumbers.
