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Undercover operatives nab drug lord
By Asif Fuard
The Police Narcotics Bureau made a vital breakthrough in one of its undercover operations apprehending one of Sri Lanka’s most wanted drug lords who was said to be responsible for supplying one third of the heroin in the country.
A. Kapila alias “Ponna Kapila” (34) had been supplying small quantities of drugs to undercover officers for around six months till he knew them better to provide them more quantities. Kapila who had been evading arrest for sometime never expected some of his best clients would be undercover police officers who were waiting to pin him at the correct time.

He was arrested on Friday morning with heroin worth Rs. 300,000 in his possession when he came to make a transaction with the undercover men. Six officers were involved in the operation of apprehending the drug lord at his home town of Thotalanga.

Kapila’s adroit ways made him evade arrest many times. There had been many unsuccessful attempts by the Thotalanga police and the Police Narcotics Bureau to arrest Kapila. However he had managed to get away each time.
So far he has two cases pending against him in the Narcotics Bureau and sixteen cases in the Thotalanga police. Some of them are for house breaking, extortion, murder and even vehicle robbery.

Ten years of being a recognised drug lord has made him a millionaire several times over. However he did not flaunt his wealth as it would have drawn attention to him.

One officer who conducted the raid told The Sunday Times that in the initial stages of the undercover operation Kapila used several alibis when he did his drug running.

“We didn’t know who he was at first as he is a master of deception. Each time we went to purchase drugs he had apparently watched us from a distance and sent one of his men. It was only much later that he revealed himself to us,” he said.

The Bureau made this vital breakthrough at a time when there was an internal crisis in the Police Department, which led to the morale of the narcotics officers falling after six officers were arrested for allegedly having dealings with drug dealers. This led to several officers backing off from going on undercover operations as they feared the same fate.

In 2004 there were 11,836 heroin cases, 9,465 cannabis cases and 4 hashish cases. In 2005 there was a decline in heroin cases which numbered 11,417, but saw an increase in cannabis and hashish cases, which were 10, 860 and 477respectively.

Police Narcotics Bureau acting Director SP I.M. Karunaratne told The Sunday Times the main reason for the decline of heroin trafficking was due to the special operations carried out.

“We are trying to our best to reduce the number of cannabis and hashish cases that have increased. We cannot fight the drug war alone. We need other agencies to co-operate with us. We are carrying out special operations in order to apprehend those who traffic in these drugs. Most of the cannabis is grown in the forests, therefore we are carrying out joint operations with the Forest Department. We have been successful in our operations but the trafficking continues with new drug peddlers coming to the scene,” he said.
Last Tuesday President Mahinda Rajapakse conducted a special discussion at Temple Trees on curbing drug trafficking and expressed his intention to establish a special Narcotics Court to avert law's delays when dealing with drug offences.

He said the High Courts are already over burdened with criminal cases and a special Narcotics Court would take off the case load from the High Courts.
He also said the death sentence should be re-implemented for those hardcore drug offenders.

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