News
Mumbai is red-flagged as India’s cocaine capital

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN
Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, April 2:
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has red-flagged Mumbai as the cocaine capital of India. It also says that other metropolitan cities in this country are not lagging behind with the drug mafia spreading its tentacles in India, Canada and Australia.
As much as 2,499 kilograms of cocaine that was seized in the past two years in Sri Lanka, Port Elizabeth (South Africa) and Panama had India as its destination. The international market for this lethal drug is INR50 million per kilogram.
India is one of the biggest manufacturers of potassium per magnate, a precursor chemical. There is a growing suspicion that the processing of cocaine may be shifted by drug cartel from South America to India.
This is primarily due to the US Drug Enforcement Agency, the UK’s National Crime Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Australian drug enforcement agencies’ pressure on the South American coca-producing countries.
According to top NCB officials, backtrack drug investigations have now confirmed that no less than 300kg of cocaine (worth INR15 billion in the international market) landed in Mumbai in December 2018 through a syndicate with links in India, Australia and Canada. The same syndicate was involved in the smuggling of 200kg of methamphetamine from Canada to Australia.
With all the drug enforcement agencies pooling their intelligence and resources on this network (not disclosed as it is an ongoing operation), as much as 20kg of cocaine was seized in India, 29kg of methamphetamine was recovered in the US, 55kg of cocaine and 200kg of methamphetamine was seized in Australia.
According to NCB, the syndicate was uncovered after an Indian internet protocol was involved in the smuggling of 200kg of methamphetamine from Canada to Australia. The said IP address was traced to one Akshinder Singh Sodhi of Punjab, who was later arrested with 422kg of cocaine in India.
The backtrack investigations of 55kg of cocaine concealed in a plasma cutting machine seized in Australia in June 2019 led the NCB to uncover the syndicate bases in India.
Investigations revealed that the drug syndicate had floated fake companies for the drug to be smuggled and then concealed at Rudrapur in Uttarakhand. Working on this intelligence, the NCB conducted raids in Rudrapur, Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Punjab and Delhi to cumulatively seize 20kg of cocaine with a number of arrests in these states, including Indonesian and Nigerian nationals.
NCB investigations into the smuggling of 300kg of cocaine in Mumbai led to the arrests of mastermind Harpal Singh aka Amrinder Chenna aka Laadhi and his associate Sandeep Deol, who arranged all the paperwork and logistics while in India during the landing of the drug. The other members of this syndicate have been identified with the accused both in India and Canada.
News
SJB, JVP move SC against Finance Secy. for contempt of court

The main Opposition, Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) yesterday (21) moved Supreme Court against Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana over his failure to provide funds required by the Election Commission to conduct the Local Government polls, ignoring an interim order issued by the apex court, on 03 March.
Ranjith Madduma Bandara, MP, is the petitioner for the SJB and Vijitha Herath, MP, moved court on behalf of the JVP, the leading party in the Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB).
Two Opposition parties declared action against Siriwardana the day after the Freedom People’s Alliance (FPA) issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Finance Secretary to release the funds.
EC Chairman Nimal Punchihewa is on record as having said that in spite of SC directive he didn’t receive fresh funding.
The petitioners sought the issuance of summons on Siriwardana for contempt of court over failure to carry out its interim orders, given on 03 March.
The petitioners want the Finance Secretary punished in terms of Article 105 (3) of the Constitution.
The SJB stated that Siriwardana had refrained from carrying out the March directives, on the basis of a Cabinet decision, taken on 13 Feb., 2023. The SJB also pointed out that the offensive conduct of the Treasury Secretary, inter alia, causes grave prejudice to the esteemed authority of the Supreme Court and in turn disturb the public confidence in the authority of the highest Court in the country. (SF)
News
Minister indicates reduction in fuel prices in April

Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara told Parliament yesterday that fuel prices would be reduced considerably according to the fuel price formula at the next fuel price revision, due in April.
The Minister said that the government would be able to procure fuel shipments, at lower prices, during competitive bidding, with the receipt of the IMF bailout.
There had been practical issues, and problems, in opening Letters of Credit, and obtaining credit facilities, in the recent past, as Sri Lanka could not give a guarantee to fuel suppliers, Minister Wijesekara said.
“We could not open LCs and obtain credit facilities when procuring fuel. After the IMF bailout, we will be able to procure fuel at lower prices during competitive biddings. We will be able to obtain a long-term credit facility as well. Fuel prices in the global market seem to have declined and the rupee has also gained strength against the US Dollar. Having considered all these factors, fuel prices will be reduced by a considerable margin which could be felt by the people,” he said.
News
IGP tells CID not to brook any interference from any quarter while they probe ’Harak Kata’ and ‘Kudu Salindu’

By Norman Palihawadane
IGP CD Wickramaratne has directed the CID to maintain a special log of names and details of any attempts by external parties to influene the ongoing investigations on notorious drug traffickers Nandun Chinthaka Wickramaratne aka Harak Kata and Salindu Malshika aka Kudu Salindu.
The suspects are currently under the custody of the CID.
The IGP issued the orders to the DIG CID and its director during a meeting of senior police officers on Monday, police headquarters said.
Sources said that the IGP has further instructed not to allow statements from the detainees to be taken by any police team other than the team currently investigating the suspects.
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