Sri Lanka seizes drug-laden Iranian trawler

Authorities in Sri Lanka detained on Sunday, March 24, a foreign-flagged fishing boat that had been used in an attempt to smuggle narcotics into the country.

Acting on an intelligence report, the Sri Lankan Navy despatched the patrol boat SLNS Suranimala to intercept the suspect trawler at a point some 10.5 nautical miles off the city of Galle in the country’s southwest.

Four containers holding a total of 107 kilograms of heroin were found hidden aboard the trawler, which was crewed by nine Iranian nationals.

The trawler crew reportedly threw some of the heroin into the sea as the Sri Lankan patrol boat approached their vessel.

The arrested suspects have since been turned over to Sri Lanka’s Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) as part of the investigation into this latest incident of attempted drug trafficking.