Court has granted permission to the Police Narcotics Bureau to detain and question the 17 suspects arrested in connection to the stock of 349kg of heroin that was seized during a raid in international waters south of Sri Lanka.
The order was issued by Colombo Additional Magistrate Chandima Liyanage.
Accordingly, court has granted permission to detain six suspects until the 30th of January while the remaining 11 suspects will be detained and questioned until the 31st of January.
The street value of the stock of narcotics has been estimated at over Rs.3.4 billion.
The suspects, the stock of heroin, and the local multi-day fishing trawlers that were seized on Monday in the joint operation were handed over to the Police Narcotics Bureau for further legal action by the Sri Lanka Navy.
Further investigations are being carried out by the Navy and the Police Narcotics Bureau.
