Police seizes 200 kg of heroin in massive raid

AFP: Sri Lankan police on Thursday made one of their biggest heroin hauls in years, days after unidentified gunmen shot dead an anti-narcotics agent near Colombo.

Police said the 200 kg (440 pound) haul - worth more than Rs. 2 billion ($ 13.3 million) on the street - was found stashed inside plastic bags in a car north of Colombo.

It was the biggest heroin seizure since 2013, when 260 kg were taken off the street, police said.

The seizure came after a drugs agent was killed Tuesday in a shootout that also wounded several other officers.

“Our latest detection shows we will not be deterred by attacks against our men,” police said in a statement.It is suspected the drugs were smuggled by boat into Sri Lanka. Police believe the Indian Ocean island is being used as a transit point by traffickers.

Last June, anti-narcotics authorities seized 90 kg of cocaine concealed in sugar containers from Brazil. Two months earlier police detained 14 foreigners after seizing 110 kg of heroin worth $ 7.5 million from an Iranian fishing trawler.