Navy personnel hauling a travelling bag containing the Kerala cannabis adrift at sea. |
The Sri Lanka Navy seized over 128kg (wet weight) of Kerala Cannabis during a patrol carried out off Karainagar Island in Jaffna on Sunday. The gross street value of the stock of Kerala cannabis is estimated to be over Rs. 42 million.
The Navy keeps a watchful eye on the coastal areas around the island, with a view to curb a wide range of illegal activities carried out by smugglers via sea routes. As an extension of constant naval search operations and patrols, SLNS Edithara II attached to the Northern Naval Command detected and seized three travelling bags adrift at sea, whilst patrolling the sea area off Karainagar Island on Sunday. The suspicious traveling bags contained 42 packages which had been stuffed with Kerala cannabis weighing about 128kgs and 065g (wet weight).
It is believed that the smugglers might have left behind the consignment being unable to fetch them ashore, as a result of constant naval search operations in the area. Meanwhile, the stock of Kerala cannabis has been kept in naval custody until it is produced for further legal proceedings.