In a major drug bust, the Police Narcotics Bureau yesterday nabbed a Pakistani national entering the country wtih heroin worth Rs. 30 million. In a method never seen before, the suspect had attempted to smuggle in the drugs designed to look like rubber carpets.
According to the Police, the carpets had been created by combining two layers of rubber and one layer of drugs. The Police Media unit said while being unable to detect on physical inspection, the drugs can only be consumed after setting the carpet alight.
“The carpet is said to be sold in pieces according to customer needs,” a spokesperson for the Police said, adding, that this is the first detection of its kind by the Police Narcotics Bureau.
“We have never seen drugs being smuggled in such a manner before,” he said. According to the Police, smugglers are now coming up with new methods to smuggle drugs due to the business’s lucrative nature.
The suspect, 25-year-old Khurram Salzad Ahmed had arrived from Doha, Qatar on flight QR 668 around 3.10 a.m. yesterday when he was arrested by the Police on a tip-off. The Police say the three carpets discovered on his person had heroin weighing around 5.5 kilograms.
He was produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday and ordered to be remanded till March 11.
According to the Police, the latest bust comes at a time where the Bureau is carrying out islandwide sweeps to nab drug smugglers. MB