Sri Lanka could become drug transshipment hub: official

Sri Lanka could become a transshipment hub for drugs in Asia, said an official here on Wednesday, after police records revealed 53,000 people had been arrested for drug offenses in 2013.

Arrests have increased in 2013 as a result of increased crackdowns, police said in a statement, noting that most arrests were for possessing marijuana.

Police also noted that they had detained about 300 kg of hard drugs, a big increase from just 15 kg detected in 2012.

"Such large quantities suggest that the drugs are not for internal consumption but to be shipped elsewhere," government spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne is also under pressure from opposition parties to resign after his secretary was implicated in a drug scandal.

Jayaratne's secretary had, on the behest of another local politician, issued a letter asking for the customs charges of a container at the Colombo port to be reduced and its contents released.

Upon investigation the container contained 131 kg of pure heroin, triggering a police investigation.

The incident has also put greater pressure on the Sri Lankan government to investigate political involvement in drug smuggling.

Police have noted that in the first six months of 2012, over 19, 000 people suspected of drug possession were arrested.

Since last year special police teams have been deployed at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to detect smuggling attempts.

Sri Lanka has also been used as a transit point involving other countries such as Brazil, Peru, Thailand and Nigeria.

In 2011 the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board warned that the country was under increasing threat from drug smuggling in its annual report. Over 60 foreigners have been arrested for drug smuggling in the last five years, the report added.