Guard attached to Excise Narcotics Unit arrested

Rasika Somarathna

Bribery Sleuths on Saturday arrested a guard attached to the Excise Narcotics Detection Unit in Gampaha for allegedly soliciting a bribe of Rs.50,000 from a relative of an arrested drug pedlar to ensure that he escapes with a light sentence.

The Guard had solicited the bribe in order to alter the record books to show that the arrested person had only possessed less than two grams of heroin.

According to Acting Investigations Officer of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Sarath Somaweera Lokuge, the quantity of heroin seized decides whether the suspect ends in the High Courts or the Magistrate's Courts.

If the amount is less than two grams the suspect would be produced before the Magistrate's Courts where there is a possibility of him being granted bail.

Also according to Lokuge, the arrested Guard had threatened to take the relatives of the drug pedlar to task for the alleged offence done by their next-of-kin and had demanded the Rs. 50,000 bribe in exchange for his helping hand.

The Guard had been later arrested while accepting the bribe near the Gampaha public bus stand.