COLOMBO: Sri Lanka police investigated whether a man who confessed to smuggling over 1,000 kilos of heroin to the island over three years had political protection, police officials said here the other day.
Samantha Kumara Vithanage was arrested in Pakistan earlier this month and taken back to Sri Lanka, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said.
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He told detectives he had imported about 1,000 kilos (2,200 pounds) of heroin since 2012 worth a total of $75 million to Colombo, a key hub for the narcotic originating in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Investigators have also found links between Vithanage and lawmaker Duminda Silva, who was attached to the defence ministry under former president Mahinda Rajapakse.
“We have information that MP Duminda Silva received large sums of money from Samantha Kumara Vithanage, alias Wele Sudha,” Rohana told reporters.
“We secured a court order today to check all banks and financial institutions to track down his money.”
Silva was a key financier of the former governing coalition under Rajapakse.
Rohana said millions of dollars worth of houses, apartments and vehicles have been seized from Vithanage, who is better known as Wele Sudha.
A new car taken from the suspect was shown to reporters Tuesday, along with a long list of confiscated apartments, lands and vehicles.
Rohana said the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had been asked to track down any foreign assets of Silva s in Pakistan and Dubai.
Silva, who could not be contacted for comment, cannot leave the country because his passport has already been impounded in connection with an unrelated murder case, Rohana said.
Rajapakse and his powerful family are accused of large-scale corruption during his decade in office, which ended earlier this month.
