Senior Deputy Inspector General Ranmal Kodituwakku attended the Criminal Investigation Department on Tuesday to give a statement about the seizure of a container of crystal methamphetamine at the Colombo Port, and the Inspector General of Police is seeking approval to transfer him and five other officers.
Senior CID officials said the statement was taken in connection with the continuing investigation into the discovery of 472 kilograms of “Ice” inside a container at the port, Hiru News reported.
Kodituwakku oversees the Central Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) — the unit whose officers made the seizure.
Six transfers before the Police Commission
Hiru reported that approval has been requested from the National Police Commission to transfer six officers, including Kodituwakku and Deputy Inspector General Asoka Dharmasena, who heads the Narcotics Bureau division.
The Police Commission, not the IGP, holds the power of transfer over officers at this rank, so the recommendations require its approval before taking effect.
The officers who made the seizure are the ones under scrutiny
The pattern is not new in this case. Earlier this month a Special Police Investigation Unit (SIU) opened an internal inquiry into alleged lapses and negligence in the port investigation, on the instructions of IGP Priyantha Weerasooriya. At that point opposition MP Ajith P. Perera publicly argued that the officers being investigated were precisely those who had made the seizure.
The containers, imported from Pakistan, were held at the Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT), and five suspects were arrested after the drugs were found.
An unresolved figure
The quantity itself is reported two ways. Hiru gives 472 kg; the Daily Mirror’s account of the internal probe put it at more than 471 kg across two containers. The difference is small and may reflect different weighing stages rather than a dispute.
The consignment’s value is less settled. Hiru puts it at over Rs. 8 billion — a figure no other newsroom reviewed for this report has matched, with substantially lower street valuations having appeared elsewhere. The figure should be read as Hiru’s alone until a second verified newsroom confirms it.
No verified outlet other than Hiru had filed on Tuesday’s statement at the time of writing, and neither the Police Commission nor Police Headquarters had issued a public statement on the transfer recommendations.
