A man police describe as the main distribution agent for crystal methamphetamine across the Colombo district has been arrested at Kalalgoda Junction in Thalangama with just over a kilogram of the drug and the car used to move it.
The arrest was made on Saturday by officers attached to the Nugegoda division, who stopped and searched a motor car near the junction after receiving information, NewsFirst reported. It puts the quantity recovered at 1 kilogram and 10 grams.
Hiru News, reporting the same raid in Sinhala, names the suspect as a man known as “Tilanka” from the Wellampitiya area and values the haul at close to Rs. 1 crore — about Rs. 10 million.
The network runs from abroad
Under questioning, Hiru reports, the suspect was identified as the main drug distribution agent covering the Colombo district for a trafficker named “Asam Mohamed”, originally from Aluthgama, who is currently overseas and directing the operation from there.
That structure — a locally resident distributor working to a principal who has left the country — matches the pattern the Public Security Ministry described to Parliament this week, when it said Special Task Force teams were being sent after organised-crime figures who have based themselves abroad.
The raid was carried out under the direction of Senior Superintendent of Police Mangala Dehideniya, in charge of the Nugegoda division. The team was led by the officer-in-charge of the division’s narcotics unit, Sub-Inspector Kasun Hettiarachchi, with Police Sergeant Gurusinghe and Constables Sampath, Chandra Kumar and Madhuranga, and driver-constable Sri Lal.
The suspect and the seized car were handed to Thalangama Police. He was due to be produced before the Kaduwela Magistrate’s Court on Sunday, with police seeking detention orders to continue the investigation.
Where the two accounts differ
The outlets name different units. NewsFirst credits the Nugegoda Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau; Hiru credits the division’s narcotics unit and names its officer-in-charge. Both agree the officers were from the Nugegoda division and that the suspect went to Thalangama Police.
NewsFirst gives the more precise weight (1 kg 10 g against Hiru’s “a kilogram”) and does not name the suspect, report a value, or mention the overseas principal. Hiru does not give the 10-gram remainder.
Not reported
Neither filing gives the suspect’s full name or age, the make or ownership of the car, or how long he is alleged to have been distributing. Neither says which country “Asam Mohamed” is in, whether an extradition or Interpol request exists for him, or whether other members of the Colombo network have been identified.
Neither account states the court’s decision.
