By Roy Denish
A routine police operation turned into a major smuggling bust after officers intercepted a container truck allegedly carrying millions of rupees worth of undeclared machinery, motorcycle parts, and foreign liquor. Investigators are now probing how the cargo cleared customs and whether a wider network inside the system helped facilitate the operation.
The tip off came in from a deep throat informant to the divisional crime investigator bureau in kuliyapitiya about a multi million rupee heist in customs revenue that had just slipped through the port of entry undetected.
It was a race against time as the information specified a massive container truck heavily loaded with contraband moving rapidly inland away from the coastal checkpoints towards the interior.
Acting with absolute stealth and precision under the radar of routine police patrols a special task force and the divisional crime investigators was mobilized and deployed to intercept the moving fortress before it could disappear into the network of rural warehouses.
The trap was sprung in the horombawa area of narammala on a quiet sunday when armed police officers intercepted the massive container truck cut off its escape routes and brought the vehicle to a grinding halt.
The forty one year old suspect behind the wheel realizing he was cornered surrendered without a fight as a ring of law enforcement officers surrounded the cabin and took him into custody.
Because of the sheer size of the container and the suspected weight of the hidden cargo police high commands summoned heavily armed special task force personnel from the kurunegala and puttalam camps to secure the perimeter and guard the perimeter while forensic teams forced open the heavy steel doors.
What lay inside was a stunning revelation of high level smuggling including heavy earth moving excavators industrial forklifts dozens of high performance motorcycle engines chassis and crates of premium foreign liquor all sneaked out of the harbor without a cent paid in state duties.
With the cargo now under armed guard a massive high level investigation has been launched to unmask the powerful syndicate inside the port and customs administration that facilitated this audacious breach of national security and economic sabotage.
