The Terrorism Investigation Division says it has broken up a cocaine operation directed from Italy that sold to wealthy Sri Lankan businessmen, arresting two men in Seeduwa with about 500 grams of the drug.
Acting on intelligence, officers raided the car park of a luxury restaurant in Seeduwa and detained the pair, Hiru News reported. Police put the street value of the seized stock at close to Rs. 200 million.
The men arrested are named as Jayakody Arachchige Don Mahesh Gayan, 45, of Katana, and Pathiranage Naveen Hirusha Fernando, 25, of Negombo. Both are to be produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court.
How police say the ring worked
Under questioning, investigators say a picture emerged of a supply chain run from abroad. A businessman named Dinesh, living in Italy, is alleged to have moved cocaine into the country through the airport. The drug was then sold on to affluent buyers — with the car parks of upmarket restaurants used as the handover points, the same setting in which the two suspects were caught.
The money trail is the larger case
The financial side of the investigation is wider than the seizure. Police say more than Rs. 200 million passed through the bank account of a single suspect in connection with the racket.
Proceeds were allegedly spread across more than 30 accounts and remitted back to Italy, disguised as ordinary business transactions. The TID has opened inquiries into 25 bank accounts through which the money is said to have moved.
That makes this as much a money-laundering case as a narcotics one, and the account tracing is likely to determine how far beyond the two men in custody it reaches.
Not reported
The reports do not say when the raid took place, whether Dinesh has been identified in full or is the subject of an extradition request, how many buyers have been identified, or over what period the alleged racket operated.
