A suspect alleged to have financed overseas travel for the group of monks caught smuggling narcotics from Thailand has been remanded until 26 May, the Negombo Additional Magistrate’s Court ordered on Thursday.
The suspect, identified as Mahmoud Mohammed, was produced before Additional Magistrate Shubani Abeysekara after being detained and questioned by officers investigating the wider trafficking network. Police informed court that Mohammed had provided financial support for the monks’ trips abroad, making “multiple transactions at different times” with bank transfers ranging from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000, while further inquiries had uncovered the circulation of funds running into “several millions.”
Mohammed was first taken into custody in Colombo on 8 May and initially produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court on 9 May, where he was held under a detention order until the following day. He was returned to court on Thursday after the order expired.
The case stems from the 25 April detection at Bandaranaike International Airport, when Police Narcotics Bureau officers apprehended 22 robed suspects with 112 kilograms of kush and hash hidden in their luggage on arrival from Thailand. Investigators say the operation was orchestrated by a monk identified as Amithananda, who was later arrested while hiding at a temple in the Migahawatta area of Gampaha after an Interpol red notice request, and the 23 monks were remanded again earlier this week. Mohammed’s financial role is the most explicit money-flow disclosure in the case to date.
