The exact contents of the 51 packages found floating on seas off the southern coast, which were recovered by the Sri Lanka Navy and brought to the Tangalle fisheries harbour last evening, have been revealed by the navy today.

Accordingly, the packages contain a total of 670 kg of ICE (Crystal Methamphetamine), 156 kg of heroin and 12 kg of Hashis, according to the Sri Lanka Navy Spokesman.

Over 50 floating parcels suspected to contain drugs were found drifting in the sea off the southern coast and were brought to the Tangalle Fisheries Harbour by the Sri Lankan Navy, yesterday (14).

It is reported that the drug consignment is suspected to belong to the notorious drug trafficker known as ‘Unakuruwe Shantha’.

The Director of the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB), SSP Hemal Prashantha, had previously received information in early September regarding an attempt to smuggle a consignment of drugs into the country using three vessels.

Accordingly, the Navy and the PNB, under the direct supervision of the Inspector General of Police, conducted search operations in the Dondra and Tangalle sea areas for 32 days.

During the operations, authorities had contacted the crews of the vessels in question; however, they had not provided any specific information. It was also revealed that the VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) installed on the vessels had been deactivated to conceal their locations.

Although the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) also took part in the operation, no information was obtained regarding the whereabouts of the three vessels.