Over 769kg of cocaine destroyed under President's fight against dangerous drugs
April 01, 2019The destruction of 769 kg of cocaine took place at a warehouse in Kelaniya, today (01 April 2019). The haul of cocaine worth over 10 billion rupees seized by law enforcement agencies on several occasions in the past was diluted before being transported to a cement factory in Puttalam where it will be incinerated through cement kiln co-processing.
President Maithripala Sirisena was present to witness the destruction process at the DNS Warehouse in Gonawala this morning. This is a historic occasion in the fight against dangerous drugs.
The President has taken a tough stance to rid the country of narcotics and other dangerous drugs. Steps have also been taken to obtain modern technical equipment which will greatly assist to detect such dangerous substances. Presently all such detections are made without the aid of any modern equipment or technological methods.
The complete process of the destruction of this haul of cocaine was carried out under tight security and in a transparent manner. Every step of the procedure is being monitored and recorded by representatives of legal, law enforcement, narcotics, excise and other line agencies leaving no space for any discrepancies.
The proceedings were open to the media and the public.
Ministers, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Mr. Hemasiri Fernando, Chief of Defence Staff, IG, senior state officials and tri forces officers were also present at the occasion.
This is the second occssion that the government has taken steps to incinerate drugs publicly. Last year (15 January 2018), a large stock 926 Kg of drugs was publicly destroyed on the instructions of the President.
