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Sniffing drugs
in safe houses This is a new
development in the drug business with addicts paying Rs. 20 for
a sniff inside the safe house, according to police. On Friday,
I accompanied a team of Police Narcotic Bureau officers in civies,
on a raid on one such house. It was around 11 a.m. We were walking
down 'Heththapahe Watte' in Grandpass. The area was crowded with
people but none took notice of us. "Most of them are addicted
to heroin," one officer told me. "They are waiting for
someone to provide them with their next fix of heroin." Then all of
a sudden, the officers walked into a house where three men were
smoking heroin seated on the ground. They panicked on seeing the
policeman, but there was no escape for them or for the woman who
owned the house. They were asked
to kneel while the policeman searched them and the house. They tried
to talk their way out claiming that they had only a small quantity
on them, but being in possession of heroin,whatever the quantity,
is an offence. While the three
men were being questioned, the woman who owns the house claimed
she was innocent as she only rented her house to those who wanted
to smoke in privacy. "I charge Rs. 20 from a person",
she said. The officers
who were looking for evidence found a number of match sticks and
foil paper scattered around the place. The men were
bundled into a police van after their arrest. When I walked
out of the house, I noticed that the crowds had suddenly dispersed.
The once crowded street was almost deserted. The word had
got around that the Police were in the area. One of the arrested men, a welder from Kadawatha, told me that he came to Grandpass in search of heroin as there was a shortage of stuff in his area. Another, a coconut
plucker said that he too was not from the area but had come there
knowing it was one of the places from where he could purchase heroin.
On questioning
him, he said that due to a shortage, he had used a tablet as a substitute;
they call the blue colour tablet 'Neelasoya'. A Municipal
worker who was among the arrested, said he had been smoking heroin
for the last four years and spends about Rs. 200 a day. When questioned
by the police he said that he had spent Rs. 100 on the powder, which
was in his possession. Meanwhile, the OIC of the Police Narcotics Bureau, Amarjith De Silva said that at present there is a shortage of drugs in the market. He said that during the period between July 15 to August 15 (according to the Tamil calendar) known as the month of Aadi no large transactions take place. "We have also deployed three enforcement units in Colombo and another special unit in the coastal areas," the OIC said, claiming this was another reason for the shortage of drugs. There was only one enforcement team previously. The OIC said that upto the end of June they had recovered 40 Kgs of heroin and 19,225 kgs of Cannabis (ganja). They had also arrested 6335 persons using Heroin and another 3959 persons for using Cannabis. The total haul for the year 2001 was 102 kg of Heroin. Ajith, an addict who was detained at the Narcotics Bureau said that he had been smoking heroin for the past four years. "I spend about Rs. 250/- a day", he said. Ajith who worked in a tyre shop, had even gone to the extent of selling a property he owned and spending more than Rs. 4 lakhs of that money on heroin. "I have seen some policemen who visit drug peddlers being bribed with Rs. 250 or sometimes even with a bottle of arrack leaving without making any arrests", he said. Ajith said, that an addict when making a purchase, for the first time.had to be introduced by someone known to the seller Meanwhile, Dr. Hector Weerasinghe, Director of the National Hospital said that the number of addicts admitted to Hospital had increased in recent weeks. "Most of
them come with withdrawal symptoms like body aches, tremors and
irrational behaviour. On admission they are referred to the Psychiatric
ward", he said. |
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