For years, authorities in Sri Lanka have tried to rid the Indian Ocean island nation of illegal drugs, even attempting to lift a decades-old moratorium on the death penalty to be able to execute drug offenders. The ring allegedly involved officers from the Police Narcotic Bureau who smuggled illicit drugs into the country by sea, stored them in safe houses, ran fake raids and then siphoned off a portion of the seizures to sell to drug dealers, pocketing millions in profits. Nearly two dozen suspects — most of them narcotics officers — have been detained so far, and an arrest warrant was issued this week for the ring’s alleged mastermind, who is said to be hiding overseas.
