We cover piracy, armed robbery at sea, IUU fishing, maritime cyber security and maritime security issues.
Navy seizes vessel with 400kg heroin and 100kg crystal methamphetamine near capital Colombo.
Two foreign trawlers packed with over $33m worth of heroin and crystal methamphetamine were seized in Sri Lanka’s biggest-ever drugs bust at sea, a navy spokesman said on Thursday.
Troops found 400kg (about 880 pounds) of heroin and 100kg (about 220 pounds) of the drug “ice” on board the two vessels, spokesman Isuru Sooriyabandara said.
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Source: aljazeera.com
Yaroslav Mudry guard ship will search for a notional enemy’s submarine with a Ka-27 helicopter’s take-off while the anti-terror squads on the ships and vessels will practice various scenarios of fighting pirates in the Indian Ocean
MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet guard ship Yaroslav Mudry has made a planned business call at the port of Colombo in Sri Lanka in its anti-piracy deployment to the Indian Ocean, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.
“During its anchorage in Colombo, the crew will replenish fresh water, fuel and food supplies and technically inspect the ship. After completing its visit that will last through March 6, the Baltic Fleet guard ship will continue its anti-piracy watch in the Indian Ocean,” the press office said in a statement.
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Source: lankaweb.com
They added that in the latest case Indian security agencies detected the boat on September 30 about 500 nautical miles or 926 km off the Kochi coast.
Sudhi Ranjan Sen
At least 150 kg heroin worth millions of dollars was on Saturday seized in a joint operation of coast guards of India, the Maldives and Sri Lankan from a boat on his way from Pakistan days after it was detected in international waters in the India-Ocean Region (IOR) off Kerala’s Kochi coast, according to officials aware of the development.
The officials said it is the fifth haul of drugs shipped from Pakistan through the sea that has been recovered over the last three months. The Sri Lankan Coast Guard seized 140 kg heroin from a vessel registered in Iran in July 2019 in a similar coordinated operation.
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Source: hindustantimes.com
(MENAFN – Colombo Gazette) The head of Avant-Garde’s Maritime Security Division, Vishwajith Nandana Diyabalanage, was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) today.
He was arrested when he returned to the country from Singapore. Diyabalanage was wanted over ongoing investigations into Avant-Garde.
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Source: menafn.com
Sept 17, Colombo: The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) is currently conducting a specialized ship search and seizure training for the overseas Coast Guard personnel in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (UNODC), the Navy said.
A Visit Board Search & Seizure (VBSS) course for the boarding teams of Indonesian, Malaysian and Philippine Coast Guards commenced at the Special Boat Squadron (SBS) Headquarters in Trincomalee Monday (16th September 2019).
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Source: colombopage.com
The Attorney General’s Department yesterday filed indictment in the Avant-Garde High Seas Arms Trafficking case before a Trial-At-Bar against 13 persons including Avant-Garde Maritime Services Ltd. (AGMS) Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi.
A total of 7,573 charges were filed by the AG under the Fire Arms Ordinance as well as the Penal Code for illegally operating a merchant vessel ship and carrying 813 unlicensed automatic weapons and 200,935 rounds of live ammunitions on board the Ship MV Avant-Garde in and around October 2015.
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Source: ft.lk
COLOMBO: A top official of Sri Lanka’s independent Police Commission was arrested on Thursday for allegedly being involved in a case relating to illegal gun-running and money laundering, the police said…
…The case is related to the alleged illegal transfer of government weapons to Avant Garde, a private firm, from the Sri Lanka Navy. Avant Garde operated a lucrative business of providing sea marshals to protect merchant ships from Somali pirates in the high seas, during former President Mahinda Rajapaksha’s regime.
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Source: newindianexpress.com
COLOMBO, June 11 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s leading tour operators said on Tuesday that luxury cruise ships have begun calling at Sri Lanka’s ports following the improved security situation in the island country after the Easter terror attacks on April 21 which killed over 250 people.
Aitken Spence Maritime, agents for Hapag-Lloyd, was quoted by local media as saying that the shipping groups MS Europa 2 cruise ship called at Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port in the capital and Hambantota port in the south recently with 309 passengers and 356 crew onboard.
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Nine Iranian nationals were arrested with 107.22 kilograms of heroin which were to be delivered to a drug dealer in Sri Lanka, in the seas off the Southern coast today (Mar 24).
The narcotic was packaged in 99 parcels and had been concealed in four sacks while being transported in a trawler, Police Spokesman S.P Ruwan Gunasekara said.
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Source: sundaytimes.lk
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