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29 March 2024

Colombo Airport officials foil attempt to smuggle in abortion injections

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By Correspondent, AFP

Customs officers at Bandaranaike International Airport’s Drugs Control Unit arrested a Pakistani national who was trying to illegally smuggle in injections used for abortions and medicines used for mental disorders, into the country, the ‘Divaina’ newspaper reported on Monday.

The Pakistani national was making his exit through the green channel used by passengers who have nothing to declare. Suspicious Customs officers checked his baggage and found these illegal drugs.

The suspect had in his possession 1,240 vaccinations used for abortions and 1,130 tablets used for mental disorders, together  valued at SLRs7.2 million, Customs Drugs Control Unit Director Nihal Alahapperuma told ‘Divaina’ newspaper.

The drugs were confiscated and ordered the suspect ordered to pay a fine of Rs10,000.

2 million suffer from insomnia

Two million Sri Lankans, including children, are suffering from insomnia, a sleep disorder that prevents people from falling or staying asleep, Dr. Rathnasiri P. Hewage, Director, Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Colombo said.

A Sri Lankan paediatric neurologist living in Oxfordshire in Britain, Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya, has introduced a treatment called 'nidra snaayuweda' which persuades people into sleeping by treating the nervous system.

Children diagnosed with insomnia, if directed by their parents, are sent for specialist treatment after identifying the conditions of the disorder, Dr. Hewage said.

2 held in mob attack on Fashion Bug store

Two suspects were arrested in connection with the mob attack against Fashion Bug store and a vehicle spare-parts dealer in Pepiliyana last Thursday although the mob attack was based on the alleged rape of an underage girl, Police Media Spokesperson SP Buddhika Siriwardena, said.

Referring to the alleged rape incident, which had sparked angry mobs to vandalise the Fashion Bug store, SP Siriwardena said despite claims made by the mobsters, Fashion Bug was in no way linked to the alleged rape.

"There were allegations but there is no truth in the matter. An employee of the vehicles spare parts shop and a young girl were involved in a love affair. That is no reason for anyone to go and attack a shop. This is unacceptable," he said.

Local media reported that the management of the clothing shop Fashion Bug on Monday denied reports that one of their employees was involved in the alleged rape of an underage girl, which led to the mob attack.

Fashion Bug proprietor's wife, Anberiya Haniffa, denied that any of their retail store's employees was involved in such an incident. No such incident had taken place on or near the Fashion Bug premises.

"The alleged rape incident had occurred down the street – it had nothing to do with us. There were rumours that something had happened between a man and a young girl a few days ago, but we don't know what exactly had happened. Either way, it had nothing to do with us," she said.

However, an angry mob had attacked the Fashion Bug warehouse, alleging that a girl had been raped by one of their employees in the warehouse.

The owner of the motor vehicle company Emerald Training Private Limited, Murshid Sadoon, told Ceylon Today it was one of his employees, who had been romantically involved with a girl living near the spare parts shop. "They had an affair," he said.

He said, his employee was arrested a few days ago and remanded, following complaints by the girl's mother to the police.

Sadoon's store had also been torched by the mob, and inflicted damages to several of the heavy vehicles parked on his property, resulting in losses estimated to be over Rs 10 million, he said.

Dockers threaten boycott of Indian cargo

Dock workers at Sri Lanka's main container port called Tuesday for a boycott of cargo from neighbouring India amid worsening relations.

Ruling party-affiliated workers staged the protest at Colombo harbour, demanding that the government retaliate against politicians in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu who have called for trade sanctions against Sri Lanka.

"There is an anti-Sri Lanka campaign in Tamil Nadu," a union spokesman told reporters at the demonstration. "We want the port to stop handling cargo from south Indian ports."

However, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority said there were no plans for any boycott.

"The workers have expressed their anger but so far they have not resorted to an actual boycott," spokesman Nalin Aponso told AFP. "We're keeping a close watch."

The Colombo port handled 4.1 million containers last year, of which 70 percent came from Indian ports.

Politicians in Tamil Nadu state, which has seen daily protests against Colombo, passed a resolution last week urging New Delhi to stop treating Sri Lanka as a friendly country until it probes the "genocide" of ethnic Tamils.

Indian Tamils share close cultural and religious links with their kinsmen in Sri Lanka.

Rights groups have said Sri Lankan troops killed up to 40,000 members of the minority Tamil population in 2009 in the final months of the island's civil war.

The Indian government, which has traditionally been wary of upsetting its neighbour, was among 25 nations which last month supported a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council calling for a probe of alleged war crimes on the island.