UPDATE : RECORD HAUL OF HEROIN IN THE HEART OF COLOMBO

Colombo (News1st) - The largest haul of heroin discovered in Sri Lanka was taken into police custody earlier today from the Colppetty area. A total of 294kg and 490g of heroin was taken into police custody at a car park in a shopping mall in the area, in a joint raid conducted by the Police Narcotics Bureau together with the Police STF. The haul of drugs had been packed in 272 parcels and were found inside 10 bags. Two suspects aged 43 and 32,  residents of Keselwatte & Panadura, have been taken into Police custody. Two vans which were used to transport the drugs were also taken into custody.163 KG of Heroin was found inside one van while 131 KG was found inside the other. The arrested suspects are to be produced before the Fort Magistrates court today. The Police believe that the estimated value of the haul is around Rs 2.9bn. Convening a media briefing this morning the Police revealed that this surpasses their previous largest bust of 270  KG in December. An investigation has already been launched to ascertain as to how the haul of drugs entered the country. The war on drugs in Sri Lanka seems to be intensifying with each passing day, in 2018 the Sri Lanka Police apprehended 700KG of Heroin and arrested nearly 40,980 in connection to narcotics-related charges. Two months into 2019, the Police has already busted 520KG of Heroin and arrested over 6,000 individuals.