Police have arrested two men during a raid on an illegal liquor production and distribution centre operating at the Weras Ganga Park, near the Karadiyana garbage dump on the southern edge of Colombo.
Officers recovered 135 litres of illicit liquor valued at close to Rs. 1.5 million, stored in eight barrels, Ada Derana reported. Also seized were roughly 16,000 litres of fermented wash — the raw mash used in distilling — along with a large quantity of manufacturing equipment.
The volume of wash on site points to an operation considerably larger than the finished stock recovered, since the mash represents liquor yet to be distilled rather than a single batch.
Acted on a tip-off
The raid followed information received by the Officer-in-Charge of the Mount Lavinia Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau that an illegal distilling operation was running in the area.
Police said the liquor was being produced and then distributed across several suburbs south of the capital, including Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa and Piliyandala.
Both suspects are residents of Ratmalana. The Mount Lavinia Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau is conducting further investigations.
Context
Karadiyana is one of the main landfill sites serving the Colombo metropolitan area, and has featured in the news for other reasons this year — an April fire at the dump required an Air Force helicopter to bring under control.
The seizure is among the larger illicit liquor recoveries reported in recent weeks. A raid in Negombo in July netted 56 litres and one arrest, a fraction of the quantity found at Karadiyana.
Illicit distilling remains a persistent enforcement problem in Sri Lanka, drawing demand from the price gap between legal, heavily taxed spirits and unregulated alternatives, which carry no quality controls and have been linked to poisoning cases.
Sources: Ada Derana.
