US State Department
Narcotics Control Reports - 2000

I. Summary

Sri Lanka continued its nation-wide demand reduction campaign in 2000. Efforts at public education on drug abuse also continued in 2000, with the support of the U.S. Embassy. The country remained a strong regional player in counternarcotics cooperation. The Government of Sri Lanka continued to make available a U.S. Government-funded database on narcotics arrests and related data to other countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Implementation of the Counternarcotics Master Plan, begun in 1994, also continued. Cannabis eradication and seizures decreased from 1999, and the number of drug-related arrests decreased slightly, although heroin and opium seizures exceeded 1999 rates due mainly to a record 38-kilogram heroin catch in June. In 2000, Sri Lanka, a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, again failed to consider enabling legislation for its implementation. The GOSL has drafted legislation to update existing antinarcotics statutes, but did not submit legislation on the control of precursor chemicals to parliament.

Sri Lanka has a comparatively modest drug problem, but a number of recent heroin seizures in India bound for Sri Lanka and in the Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka confirm the existence of a heroin trafficking pipeline in the area. A slight but steady increase in narcotics consumption—particularly heroin—continued in 2000. The Ministry of Defense (MOD), under whose jurisdiction the police serve, has overall responsibility for counternarcotics and demand reduction activities, but the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists drains the Ministry’s resources, leaving it limited personnel, time and funding to address the drug problem. The conflict absorbs the attention of Sri Lanka’s naval forces and prevents the adequate patrol of Sri Lanka’s 1,100-miles of coastline. The island’s popularity as a transshipment point for narcotics from South Asia has consequently grown, but there is no evidence that these drugs reach the U.S. in any significant quantity. Police officials in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu continue to report drug smuggling activities among Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living there and express concern that much of the drug trafficking in southern India in 2000 was destined for Sri Lanka. Some believe the LTTE helps finance its insurgency through drug trafficking, although neither the U.S. Government nor the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) has firm evidence to support this suspicion.

Illicit Cultivation and Production of Illicit Narcotic Substances. Cannabis is the only illicit narcotic cultivated and produced in Sri Lanka. Cannabis grown in Sri Lanka has no significant effect on the U.S. Most cannabis cultivation occurs in heavy jungle in the southeastern part of the island, near areas of conflict. Due to staffing limitations brought on by the conflict and the location of the fields, the police located and destroyed only one large field of cannabis in 2000, a four-acre plot containing nearly 13,000 kilograms, in January, and a total of 15 acres nationally. Police continue to rely primarily on informants to find cannabis cultivation.

Regional Cooperation. Sri Lanka is active in regional antinarcotics cooperation. A computer program developed by the PNB and funded by the U.S. Government hosts a regional database of narcotics arrests, monitoring and other information. Law enforcement agencies throughout SAARC have access to the database, although local officials claim many countries in the region did not contribute enough information to the database in 2000 for the program to be useful. The NDDCB takes the lead in drafting legislation and encouraging regional cooperation on precursor control and in 2000 drafted a voluntary code of conduct for legal precursor chemical importers. The NDDCB hopes the private sector will adopt the code formally in 2001.

During 2000, the Drug Advisory Program (DAP) of the Colombo Plan (an international organization headquartered in Sri Lanka) conducted successful narcotics training programs in the region, partially funded by the U.S. In September, the DAP used USG funds to convene the Third Global Conference on Drug Abuse Primary Prevention in Italy. More than 100 participants from 20 countries attended.

Domestic Programs/Demand Reduction. The NDDCB carried out an island-wide outreach campaign in 2000 and conducted individual counseling sessions with 25,000 drug abusers in urban areas. Based on this project, NDDCB sources estimate the total number of addicts at 40,000 to 50,000. In 1992, the government estimated the number of heroin addicts at 50,000, although a world health organization-funded survey in 1998 estimated there were only 22,500 addicts.

The NDDCB has continued an aggressive, nation-wide drug education campaign that features a weekly national radio program. The NDDCB also has held seminars for judicial officers, training courses for police officers, hundreds of drug awareness seminars for students, teachers and parents, and training programs on drug abuse prevention. The NDDCB has established youth camps for youth leaders and treatment programs at residential treatment centers. A family-based prevention/treatment program begun in 1994 continued to function in 2000. In addition, the number of people utilizing rehabilitation centers has increased. The Colombo Plan supported several local organizations training volunteer drug counselors. An officer from the U.S. Embassy spoke at an awards ceremony for one of these programs in 2000.

Law Enforcement Efforts. The PNB, the Customs Service, and the Department of Excise share responsibility for countering cannabis production. Total seizures of cannabis decreased in 2000—20.3 metric tons (MT) through November, compared to full-year figures of 80.0 metric tons in 1999 and 24.7 metric tons in 1998. The PNB reported arrests of 12,598 people on drug-related charges through November 2000. This compared to full-year figures of 15,875 arrested in 1999 and 13,867 arrested in 1998. The PNB hired 20 new officers in August 1999 to expand efforts to combat a modest increase in narcotics abuse and trafficking. Through November 2000, most of those arrested for narcotics-related offenses had their cases referred to the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution.

Corruption. There was no evidence public officials engaged in narcotics trafficking in 2000, although there were allegations that police officers in the provinces accepted bribes in return for ignoring drug trafficking. In 1994, the GOSL set up a permanent commission to investigate charges of bribery and corruption against public officials, although the commission effectively stopped functioning in 1998 due to political in-fighting. No narcotics-related corruption cases have emerged from the commission.

Agreements and Treaties. Sri Lanka has signed the 1988 UN Drug Convention and the 1990 SAARC Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. Enabling legislation for both conventions, drafted in 1997, has still not been presented to parliament. The draft legislation includes specific provisions for extradition for narcotics-related offenses. Sri Lanka and the U.S. signed a new general extradition treaty in 1999, which entered into force in January 2001. Sri Lanka has also signed the World Customs Organization (WCO) International Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance for the Prevention, Investigation and Repression of Customs Offenses, which is known as the Nairobi Convention. Sri Lanka signed the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols in December, 2000.

Drug Flow/Transit. Heroin is the only known narcotic to transit Sri Lanka in significant quantities. In 2000, the PNB detected and seized several heroin shipments from India at Katunayake International airport and in June made a record catch of 38 kilograms of heroin after intercepting a small vessel crossing from southern India to the coastal city of Chilaw. The PNB says this case illustrates the coast’s vulnerability to transshipments of heroin from India. Sri Lanka has no Coast Guard and the Navy is preoccupied with LTTE military operations.

Large hauls by Indian and Sri Lanka authorities of heroin and opium shipments bound for Sri Lanka are evidence of yet another narcotics pipeline in South Asia. In June 2000 counternarcotics officials in Tamil Nadu arrested four Indian nationals transporting 20 kilograms of high-purity heroin bound for Sri Lanka, presumably for transshipment. In October and November 1999 the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested Sri Lankans operating heroin trafficking operations in India and seized 100 kilograms of heroin marked for shipment to the island. NCB officials believe much of the heroin seized in southern India each year (amounting to hundreds of kilograms) is bound for Sri Lanka, an important transshipment hub between the Middle East and East Asia. The island’s relatively small number of heroin users suggests a transshipment role for Sri Lanka. There are no data, however, indicating this heroin reaches the U.S.

The U.S. Government works with Sri Lankan counternarcotics organizations in support of their efforts to promote awareness of the dangers of narcotics among the general population. In addition to providing occasional material and financial support, the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka has participated actively in community awareness seminars. The U.S. Government hopes to advance self-sufficiency and cooperation among law enforcement and other government officials working on narcotics issues in Sri Lanka and the region. The U.S. has supported regional efforts by providing over $700,000 to the Colombo Plan’s Drug Advisory Program from 1998 through 2000.

Bilateral Cooperation. In previous years, the U.S. has assisted several Sri Lankan organizations in their counternarcotics efforts. In 1998, the USG provided about $ 7,000 to the NDDCB, the Federation of Nongovernmental Organizations Against Drug Abuse (FONGOADA) and the Sri Lanka Anti-Narcotics Association (SLANA) for equipment purchases. Sri Lankan police and customs officials also have benefited from equipment and training funded by the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and German governments.

In 2000 U.S.-funded training assistance to Sri Lanka law enforcement increased significantly. In August, more than 30 participants from narcotics enforcement agencies in four countries attended a DEA antinarcotics investigative techniques course in Colombo funded by the USG

The USG-funded regional narcotics crime database on drug arrests, investigations, and other information is available to all SAARC law enforcement agencies. Not all SAARC countries are updating the system with country specific data, hampering its effectiveness as a regional tool. NDDCB officials conducted their outreach, preventive education and training programs effectively in 2000 with the help of audio-visual equipment provided by the USG in previous years. Embassy participation in drug prevention seminars has generated publicity for those events, including newspaper coverage.

The Road Ahead. U.S. Government officials will continue to work with Sri Lankan counternarcotics organizations whenever possible, particularly by speaking at or otherwise participating in seminars addressing the drug problem.