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Malaysian police have intercepted a tanker with 131 Sri Lankans believed bound for Australia and New Zealand, smashing a large human smuggling ring that has been operating for a year.

Authorities halted the modified tanker on Tuesday off the coast of southern Johor state, national police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement Saturday.

He said the immigrants included 98 men, 24 women, four boys and five girls.

Police also raided a fishing boat used to transport the migrants to the vessel and detained three Indonesians and four Malaysians on board, he said. Another five Malaysians were nabbed for suspected involvement in the smuggling syndicate.

“This syndicate has been operating since mid-2017 and has international connections across Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia,” Fuzi said.

A total of 127 Sri Lankans will be charged for entering Malaysia illegally while nine Malaysians, four Indonesians and four Sri Lankans will be investigated for human smuggling, he added.

The syndicate was transporting the immigrants using a maritime passage in the waters of Tanjung Gemuk in Kota Tinggi, Johor, Channel News Asia reported.

Source : AP

The Ministry of Sports, Provincial Councils and Local Government has announced that it has decided to suspend the services of the Director General of Sports with immediate effect.
 
The Minister of Sports, Provincial Councils and Local Government President's Counsel Faizer Mustapha has instructed the Ministry Secretary to remove H.M.B.P Herath, the Director General of the Department of Sports, which is under the purview of the Ministry with immediate effect.
 
It has been reported that the reason for the removal was due to the failure of the Sports Department to provide adequate hostel facilities for the athletes participating in the South Asian Junior Athletic Championships commencing today (05 May) at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo.
 
Source : Colombo Page

A suspicious dinghy with 14 people on board was intercepted in northern seas by a Navy fast attack craft attached to the Northern Naval Command yesterday.

The boat carrying men, women and children was spotted during a routine patrol in the early hours of Saturday, a communique released by the Navy said.

After detecting a suspicious boat movement in the seas about 11 nautical miles northwest of Point Pedro, the Navy had dispatched the Fast Attack Craft to the location. 
 
According to the Navy, the dispatched naval personnel found 14 persons comprising 07 males, 03 females and 04 children aboard the dinghy the Navy said. 
 
The group was later brought to the naval base SLNS Uththara in Kankesanthurai where they were given necessary first aid and other medical requirement was provided. The 14 persons along with the dinghy was later handed over to the Kankesanthurai Police for further investigations.

The necessary legal process to introduce a special court to expedite Bribery and Corruption cases, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption said. 

According to its commissioner Neville Guruge, the decision will need parliamentary approval but the new court once in place is expected to resolve bribery and corruption cases faster. 

In addition, the drafting of laws for raising the fine imposed on public officers and politicians who do not reveal assets and liabilities are also in progress he revealed.

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has said that Mahinda Rajapaksa was a minister in her government and is the biggest thief in the country.  She made these comments to the media yesterday during a trip to observe the renovations progress of the Veyangoda public fair. 

She made the statement in response to a media personnel posing a question to her regarding the recently arrested P. Dissanayake on a bribery charge who was a former secretary of her’s. 

According to her, there was nothing she could do about corruption by officers and that she never advised them to do so.

Sports Minister Faiszer Musthapha has assured that necessary steps will be taken to hold the election to appoint office bearers for Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC), the before May 31.

The elections for the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which was scheduled for May 19 had to be postponed due to an issue with the elections committee.

The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket in violation of Section 39 of the Sports Act, has appointed the election committee without a decision taken by a special general meeting.

An opponent has filed an objection challenging the legality of the committee in accordance with the relevant regulations declared under the Sports Act.

The SLC, however, claims that it had received permission to conduct the election from previous sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara.

The Attorney General's Department has now advised the Ministry of Sports to hold the elections for Sri Lanka's Cricket board under a new Election Committee appointed at a general meeting according to the Sports Act and the then Acting Minister of Sports Faizer Mustapha on 27 April decided to appoint the current governing body as an interim committee until the election of SLC is held.

Source : Colombo Page

After the recent cabinet reshuffle a large number of Ministers who were presented with Ministerial portfolios are said to be displeased and are prepared to vacate their posts, political sources say. 

According to reports a group of these Ministers are said to be in discussion to vacate their posts to continue as MP’s instead. 

One UNP Minister said focus was put on the recent 16 MP’s who left the government with many in the group feeling that they have made inroads to reach their voter base through the decision made. 

Some SLFP Ministers in the government too are displeased with the current situation and is expected to meet the President seeking for his approval allowing them to sit in the opposition, sources further added.

Releasing a communique yesterday regarding the recent increase of milk powder prices, the consumer affairs authority stated the price increase will only affect milk powder produced after May 5, 2018. 

“There shall be no increase of MRPs of any milk powders available in the market at present” the communique read. 

The authority also stressed that the price increase will only be applied to full cream milk powder while prices of infant and nonfat milk powder will remain unaffected. 

Following a decision of the Cost of Living Committee on May 1, 2018, it was decided to allow the increasing of the Maximum Retail Prices (MRP) of milk powder by Rs 20.00 (for 400 grams) and Rs 50.00 (for one Kg).

The 29th International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) meeting between Sri Lanka and India was held onboard Indian Naval Ship ‘Sumithra’ at the Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Line off Kankesanthurai.
 
The Sri Lankan delegation consisted of Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Coast Guard officials headed by Commander North Central Naval Area, Rear Admiral Muditha Gamage. Among the 11 officials represented Sri Lanka were Deputy Area Commander (North), Commodore Senarath Wijesooriya, Director Naval Operations, Commodore Sanjeewa Dias and Deputy Director and Director Operations of Sri Lanka Coast Guard, Captain Ravindra Thisera as well. Meanwhile, the Indian delegation was comprised of 9 officials headed by Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu Naval Area, Rear Admiral Alok Bhatnagar. Defence Attaché to the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka Captain Ashok Rao also attended this event.
 
The IMBL meeting is held to strengthen the relationship and operational readiness between the navies and Coast Guard personnel of two neighbouring countries. During its 29th sitting, matters related to maritime security in the region were discussed at length. Mementoes were also exchanged to mark the significance of this occasion.

Source : Sri Lanka Navy

Sri Lankan police caught a top aide of President Maithripala Sirisena in the act of allegedly accepting a bribe from a foreign investor on Thursday, an anti-corruption official said.

Sirisena’s Chief of Staff, I.H.K. Mahanama, was arrested with LKR 20 million he apparently received to release state land for a private sugar company, anti-graft commissioner Neville Guruge said.

Guruge said the Indian investor in the sugar firm had complained to the authorities that Mahanama and the Chairman of the State Timber Corporation, Piyadasa Dissanayake, had demanded the bribe.

“We caught them accepting the money at a hotel in Colombo,” Guruge said. “They were accepting a fifth of the (total) amount when they were apprehended.”

A police investigator said the duo had LKR 20 million in marked bills that were meant as the first installment of a LKR 100 million bribe.

President Sirisena ordered the immediate suspension of the two senior officers and noted that the arrests had been carried out by the independent anti-graft commission established after he came to power in January 2015.

“I am pleased that we have created an environment in which law enforcement authorities can carry out their duties without any fear,” Sirisena said in a statement.

Mahanama is the highest ranking public official to be arrested from Sirisena’s administration which had promised to end a culture of corruption.

The Lifetime Achievement Award presented to late Dr. Lester James Peries from India, which was reported missing from his residence few days ago, has been found on an overhead rack of a Kollupitiya-Kaduwela private bus, Police said.

According to the police complaint, the award was stolen on Wednesday morning while his funeral service was in progress.

Officers attached to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 32.249kg of gold worth over LKR 240 million in Chennai. The gold was being smuggled from Sri Lanka through coastal Tamil Nadu into India.

The previous year itself saw DRI Chennai Zonal Unit seizing more than 105 kg of gold smuggled via Sri Lanka through the Tamil Nadu coast. Apart from the enforcement measures, the DRI has also taken up the issues of smuggling and other customs related matters at the policy level during the 28th Indo-Sri Lanka high level talks at New Delhi in February this year. 

As a result, both administrations had firmly resolved to combat smuggling. The Sri Lanka Customs and the Sri Lankan Navy have also stepped up efforts to curb smuggling of gold, narcotics, and other contraband. 

The Ministry of Finance imposed a 15% tax on its value on gold in Sri Lanka last month due to rising concerns of gold being smuggled out of the country after detecting a rapid spike in duty-free gold imports in recent months.