Five Sri Lankans arrested in MVR 1bn drug case remanded in jail

The five Sri Lankan citizens who were arrested on Sunday after Maldivian authorities found over 400 kilos of drugs on a fishing boat that they were travelling on have been remanded in a custodial jail for 30 days.

The Sri Lankan fishing boat ‘Ashenfutha’ was tracked and captured by the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) Coast Guard at around 12:45 am on November 24 after it was reported to have illegally entered Maldivian waters.

The boat had been travelling with five sailors when it was captured off HDh. Makunudhoo.

It was taken to Kulhudhuffushi and raided by the Kulhudhuffushi Police and the Coast Guard, who found 468.6 kilos of drugs on the boat; 344 kilos of crystal meth and 124.6 kilos of cocaine.

The drug shipment is estimated to be worth around MVR 1 billion.

The police disclosed the identities of the five Sri Lankans arrested in the case on Tuesday. They are:

• Muttima Patabendige Amishk Sanjeeva Kumara, 22
• Rajpaksha Gamage Dinusha Madumal, 21
• Chamod Diwanga Dilakawa, 22
• Laurence Hewage Sarat, 56
• Wijeweera Gunaratne Mahavidome, 37

All five were presented before the Kulhudhuffushi Magistrate Court for their remand hearing on Monday. According to the police, the court ordered for all five to be held in a custodial jail for 30 days.

In a press briefing on Sunday announcing the seizure of the drugs, Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau declined to comment on whether the police have linked the drug shipment to a known Maldivian drug network, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The case comes as the government readies to introduce amendments to the existing Drugs Act, including the introduction of the death penalty for trafficking more than 400 grams of drugs into the country.