Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) sources said 274 kilograms of the drug had been counted while another container was currently being inspected. A senior PNB officer told the Daily News that the containers belonged to a sugar importing company based in Wattala. Sources said the same company was responsible for the smuggling of cocaine worth Rs. 2 billion seized by the Police, last month.
The stock of cocaine brought from Brazil on that occasion was concealed in several travelling bags inside a container of sugar at the Orugodawatte cargo clearing yard managed by the Customs.
President Maithripala Sirisena also visited the Orugodawatta yard, following the cocaine detection in June which was touted at the time as the largest ever stock seized of the banned narcotic.
The container yard located in Nuge Road, Peliyagoda was raided yesterday following a tip-off the Police received. A senior PNB officer said they were tipped - off about the cocaine haul from employees of the sugar company. This company had been identified as involved in sugar importing for some 40 years and had declared the goods in the container as a consignment of sugar.
Investigations are continuing on the direction of PMB director SSP Kamal de Silwa.
