CID finds Govt. Analyst’s Dept. linked to narcotic network – Defence Secy.

By Norman Palihawadane

Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne yesterday said that evidence had surfaced to prove that there had been a network of Government Analyst’s Department officials involved in selling heroin sent for testing.

The Defence Secretary told The Island: “The investigations by the CID during the last couple of days have bared a network with links to the Government Analyst’s Department officials who are supplying heroin to dealers and addicts. The chain of investigations started following the recent arrest of two employees of the department. We believe that the smuggling out of narcotic sent to the department for testing has been there for several years.

“Now, we know how heroin taken into custody turns into flour and some drug dealers win their cases easily in courts,” Maj. Gen. Guneratne said.

CID sources said that the two employees were being questioned to ascertain whether other workers in the department are involved in the drug network. They had already divulged the details of their customers, and police teams had been deployed to trace them, sources said, adding that a youth had already been arrested. The latest suspect is a resident of Balangoda.

Deputy Government Analyst D.H.I.W. Jayamanne told The Island that he and other senior staff members had been shocked by the results of the recent investigations by the CID that revealed the operation of a larger network of drug peddling with its origins in the department.

“We are also conducting a separate investigation but we give priority to the findings of the police investigations. We still cannot comprehend the ability of the workers to smuggle out narcotics from the department because they were supposed to be under tight security,” Jayamanne said.

 Athurugiriya Police arrested two weeks back two employees of the Government Analyst’s Department with 15 grams of heroin, 25 grams of ICE, a scale and a motorbike and with 18.7 grams of heroin on two occasions.

The Police said the suspects had been arrested in the Moratuwahena area in Athurugiriya.

One of the suspects is a resident of Matara while the other is from Balangoda.