Colonel arrested for selling army drugs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 April 2000, 16:22 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka army personnel including an officer were taken into custody by the military Police today for allegedly selling expensive drugs from the military hospital in Colombo to private parties. The officer, a Colonel at the army headquarters, was produced before the Colombo magistrate today by the Police.

The illegal sale of medicine from the military hospital came to light when soldier was arrested by the Police with a stock of expensive drugs on Tuesday April 25 at the check point in Slave Island in downtown Colombo said army sources.

The soldier was questioned by the Fort Police. A colonel at the SLA headquarters was taken in for questioning on information provided by the soldier.

The Colombo magistrate allowed bail for the SLA officer and directed the Police to produce him in court on Friday.

SLA sources said that the officer and his accomplices were making huge profits by siphoning off drugs from the hospital's stores and selling them to business persons in the city.