Public servants from hell

Wednesday 19th August, 2020

Why Sri Lanka’s efforts to eliminate the drug menace have not yielded the desired results, all these years, is clear. Some corrupt drug busters have been operating hand in glove with narcotic dealers and acted as suppliers of hell dust. Several Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) sleuths have been remanded for their alleged involvement in drug dealing. Prisons have become a gated underworld of sorts with wealthy drug czars running their drug operations from their cells via mobile phones.

Two Government Analyst’s Department (GAD) employees who doubled as drug peddlers have been arrested. They are believed to have removed part of the drug samples sent to the department for testing. This shows how compromised those tasked with battling the scourge of narcotics are. It is popularly said in this country that you have no one to turn to when ‘the fence and the ridge destroy your rice plants’.

Last month, following the arrest of the aforesaid rogue PNB officers, a large amount of drugs in the warehouses of the police and courts was taken to the GAD for further investigations. One can only hope that nobody was able to help himself to part of those consignments of drugs.

The GAD is among the four most corrupt state institutions, the newly appointed Justice Minister Ali Sabry has said, the other three being the police, the Prisons Department and the court registries. (Did he forget Parliament?) The country is dependent on these institutions to wage its war on drugs and why it has failed to achieve its goal is obvious. There have been instances where drugs sent to the GAD for testing mysteriously turned into kurakkan flour. Unless narcotic samples are properly analysed and results reported to courts urgently, it is not possible to prosecute drug offenders successfully.

A special probe is called for to trace the corrupt elements in the GAD and bring them to justice. Ridding this vital institution, which however is not short of clean officials, of rogues is a prerequisite for fighting the dug Mafia effectively.

Worryingly, the stocks of drugs taken into custody have to be kept in warehouses for a long time pending court cases. The government should give serious thought to setting up special courts to hear drug related cases expeditiously so that the consignments of narcotics can be destroyed fast. Justice Minister Sabry has said something to this effect, after assuming duties, and he should walk the walk. If new laws are needed, let them be made. If more judges are needed, let them be appointed.

Drug dealers are behind various rackets such as the refuse tea trade, which successive governments have failed to eliminate. It has now been revealed that drug dealer Angoda Lokka was engaged in extracting and transporting soil and sand. Besides, the drug Mafia has spread its tentacles over various businesses to launder their black money. Some of them have invested in real estate, especially luxury apartments in Colombo. We pointed out in a previous comment that two foreign drug dealers, arrested in December 2018, had bought apartments in Colombo.

Worse, some drug dealers currently being kept in the Boosa Prison are reported to have threatened their guards and boasted that their hit squads are capable of striking anywhere at will and nobody is safe. This is not mere rhetoric. They have private armies, enough funds and links to international crime syndicates. The task of fighting the drug Mafia should be at the top of the new government’s list of priorities, given the serious threats it poses to the country.