Mohammad Siddiqui has been identified as one of the top traffickers among the country’s notorious drug kingpins. Mohammad Siddiqui is said to have kept about half of the power over drug trafficking from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. He also pioneered a new method of bringing large quantities of heroin to Sri Lanka by concealing it in containers imported from Pakistan, transporting it from Pakistan to India via land routes, and then concealing it in fishing boats via Tuticorin. In addition, Mohammad Siddiqui is said to have taught how to bring hundreds of kilogrammes of drugs from Pakistan by boat.
Mohammed Siddique, a well-known figure in the drug trafficking network, has numerous political and law enforcement connections. Due to his police connections, Siddique’s file, which was among the files of the drug kingpins in the Police Narcotics Bureau, vanished some time ago? At the time, his name was listed fourth on a list of notorious drug dealers. Despite this, his file was misplaced by a police chief who worked in the same Police Narcotics Bureau. That’s because the police chief and Mohammad Siddique were sitting at the same table, both holding positions in a sports club in this country, one of the most famous sports in the world.
Under the pretext of to study the file, the officer, who was occupied a big chair in the Police Narcotics Bureau at the time, made Siddique’s file disappear, claiming that Siddique was an innocent businessman with nothing to do with drug trafficking. The police narcotics bureau has yet to locate the file that officer took that day. Those who have worked in the Police Narcotics Bureau know that a new file has been prepared for Siddique in the past.
Vele Suda, a notorious drug peddler who is currently on death row, is also Mohammad Siddique’s protégé. Vele Suda wielded more political and police power than Siddique. In his high position in the police, he possessed the greatest strength in the force at the time. That particular police chief is no longer alive. Even today, there are police officers who are aware of the pressure put on the police narcotics bureau to make Vele Suda a saint by this high ranking office who enjoy drinking parties with a young politician and Vele Suda in the top floor of a well-known apartment complex in Bambalapitiya. This is how drug trafficking, politics, and law enforcement are linked together
During his detention in the Criminal Investigation Department after being brought to Sri Lanka from Dubai, Makadure Madush also released a slew of information about the politicians who were involved in drug trafficking with him. Retired Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne and retired Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekara, who were in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department at the time, knew the identities of the politicians. That is because, just as the politicians were about to be arrested, the government changed, and these two officers were fired from the Criminal Investigation Department, while the politicians received adequate protection.
Reference is made here about Mohammad Siddique because he was apprehended by Omani security forces as part of an operation conducted by Indian security forces while disguised as an Indian. He has an Indian passport with the name “Mohammed Jalal” on it.
The arrest was first reported to Sri Lanka on the 18th. Not only Siddique, but two of his closest disciples, Makilangamuwe Sanjeeva and Gotha Asanka, were arrested in India on the 20th.
All three were in an Indian village near the Nepal border. They pretended to be Indian businessman. Although it is unclear how these three were apprehended, the responsible authorities in this country have confirmed that Mohammed Siddique was apprehended in Oman. However, it is unclear whether Makilangamuwa Sanjeeva and Gotha Asanka are still in custody. That’s because it’s said they got away by tricking to the authorities. Mohammad Siddique is said to have been imprisoned in Oman which was surfaced following the interrogation of Sanjeeva and Gotha Asanka after their arrest in Makilangamu. Two photographs were released to the media after the two were arrested.
As a result, it is impossible to claim that they were not arrested. However, it has not been confirmed whether these two were apprehended in India, Nepal, or Oman. As a result, whether they are still detained is a serious issue. However, Oman has already notified India via the International Police that Mohammad Siddiq is in its custody. It was because Siddique was apprehended by Oman’s security forces based on a Red Notice issued by India’s International Police. The red notice was issued in connection with an incident in which Siddique had escaped from an Indian jail.
There are numerous stories connected to that one. The beginning to it is stems out from late 90s where police was adopting a dormant stance. Presently retired senior Deputy Senior Inspector General of Police who reached the maximum police position he could attain stood against this organised criminals in the late 1990s. Priyantha, claims Sidique is the person who took Sri Lanka’s drug trafficking to an international level.
Siddique’s kingdom was in a residential complex on Mohideen Masjid Road, just past Maradana Elphinstone Theatre and Sarasavipaya towards Technical Junction. That is where he was born.
“In the mid-1990s, heroin trafficking was on the rise in Colombo.” M.Vappu Balan who moved from Peliyagoda to “Tamil Nadu” in Orugodawatta. Vappu Balan (or “Thel Bala”) and Upali Ranjith (sothiupali) who had made his kingdom in Borella Gotami Road, who was anointed as the drug world’s king at the time. The Police Narcotics Bureau apprehended Mohammad Siddique’s elder brother Ashraf with 50 grams of heroin during this period. Ashroff, like Siddique, was a key figure in the Maradana drug trade.
Siddique suspected a young man who was selling car glasses on the sidewalk near the Tower Hall Theatre as the informant of police about Ashroff’s arrest. The young man was shot and killed in broad daylight near the Maradana Tower theatre by a hired killer named “Nasoor” who lives near the port on Siddique’s orders. Former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Priyantha Jayakodi recalls the history.
The real killer was hidden in the face of Siddique’s financial power, and this official accepted a drug addict as the killer and took legal action, but the lie did not last long. A special police unit attached to the Peliyagoda Police Station was operating at the time to combat underworld crime. That unit apprehended a large number of underworld criminals. Priyantha Jayakodi was in charge. His information network was extensive. He learned the truth about Maradana murder from this. As a result, “Nasoor” and the actual pistol that was used for the killing both trapped. Nasoor let out everything when confronted with questions. He accepted that he carried out the murder in accordance with Siddique’s contract. When Siddique was about to be apprehended, he fled to India.
Siddique has since then risen to prominence as the leader of the country’s drug trafficking network. Staying in Chennai, India, he oversaw the large-scale smuggling of drugs produced in Afghanistan and brought to India by Pakistani smugglers via boats from Tuticorin. At the time, Udappuva on the northwestern coast had become a security hub for drugs brought from Tuticorin.
Some Pakistani drug smugglers Siddique knows encourage him to carry out this racket. A Pakistani named “Attabai” was among them. Attabai, who was a frequent visitor to Sri Lanka, was said to be fluent in Sinhala.
“In the late 1990s, Mohammad Siddique was arrested in Chennai with 20 kilos of heroin by Superintendent of Police Shankar Diwal, who is regarded as a renowned officer who worked in the Indian anti-narcotics department.” Mohammad Siddique was sentenced to life in prison by the Chennai High Court following a trial. He is being held in India’s Salem Jail. Priyantha Jayakodi describes how Mohammad Siddique ended up in jail in India.
In prison, Siddiqui was not idle. Connected with Pakistanis and engaged in drug trafficking. In the meantime, he maintained contact with his disciples in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, he plotted his escape from Indian jail. He escaped from Salem Jail in 2002. There is also unconfirmed information that they initiated an explosion inside the prison with some LTTE detainees and escaped with a group of LTTE prisioners. However, Priyantha Jayakodi claims that Siddique is fled without causing the explosion.
A red notice has been issued by the India International Police against Siddique following his escape from jail.
Siddique made a luxurious house in Piliyandala Katuawala as his lodging after boarding a fishing boat and landing on Chilaw without anyone’s much knowledge. He also bought and rode in a Prado type jeep, which was the most expensive jeep used by elites and capitalists at the time. Soon after, Priyantha Jayakodi learned about Siddik, who pretended to be a textile businessman. Then Priyantha was the director of the Western Province Northern District Crime Division at the time.
After conducting a long investigation with the help of his officers regarding that information, Siddiq was finally arrested in Piliyandala on February 06, 2003. He was riding in a Prado jeep and traveling with four disciples. All of them were arrested with 20 grams of heroin and two pistols along with a hand grenade.
With the arrest of Siddiq, India has also paid special attention to it. Even diplomatic views regarding Siddiq have been exchanged at that time. Requesting that Siddiq be handed over to India to serve the prison sentence set by the country’s High Court.
“The Attorney General’s Department, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defense were jointly launching a plan to extradite Siddiq from Sri Lanka to India and serve the prison sentence imposed by the Chennai High Court, but due to the complexity of the extradition law and its implementation, they were unable to complete the task properly. In the meantime, Priyantha, who was the head of the Peliyagoda Special Crime Investigation Division, who was playing a major role in the fight against local crime and corruption, stationed at the Bambalapitiya Field Force Headquarters, which is considered the punishment squad of the Sri Lanka Police. Due to this incident, the program to extradite Siddiq to India was stalled. “This is how Priyantha Jayakodi points out how Siddiq could not be handed over to India because of the sloppy work of politicians.
Siddiqui did not remain in prison for long. He spent a lot of money and got the help of the top lawyers in the country. Accordingly, Siddique, who got bail from the High Court, fled the country as soon as he came out of jail. Those escaped with Siddiq resurfaced from Dubai and Pakistan. At the same time, Siddique opened the door to bring the drugs that had been brought to Sri Lanka by boat through India for a while from directly from Pakistan. He started bringing drug stocks to this country by hiding the goods in the containers that transport goods to this country. Siddique brought large quantities of drugs from Pakistan using various methods, confusing even the police narcotics bureau and investigation department officials about the new way of bringing drug stocks to this country. But there was no room for Siddiq to continue that game for a long time.
Chief Inspector Neomal Rangajeeva, a well-known officer of the Police Narcotics Bureau at the time, smelt Siddique’s this latest game plan. Accordingly, on December 9, 2010, 36 kilos of heroin were found in a potato container at Colombo port. In that potato container imported from Pakistan, the heroin was hidden behind the rubber potatoes that were among the real potatoes.
Not only potatoes and onions imported from Pakistan, but Siddiq hid among many other goods, and smuggled in large quantities of drugs. Hundreds of kilos of narcotics were brought to this country hidden behind bolts and grinding machines. The Sri Lankan Customs had also seized 85 kilos of Siddique’s heroin, which had been brought in grinders, when they were ready to be taken out of the port.
Meanwhile, in 2012, a drug dealer named Dilruksha, who was Vele Suda’s best disciple, was trapped by Neomal Rangajeeva. While inspecting his car, near the Global Towers. Rangajeevi had a strong suspicion about a water motor in it. That is because Dilruksha, who lives in a house in Mt.Lavinia, where tap water is available from the water board, does not need a water motor. During the long questioning about it, it is revealed that a lot of drugs were brought to this country from Pakistan hidden in the water motor. Rangajeeva goes to a house in Bandaranaike Mawatha, Colombo. 232 or so water motors imported from Pakistan were found stacked in the house. Investigations revealed that drugs were hidden behind all those motors.
This house belongs to Siddiq’s wife’s brother. Siddique’s wife also had a connection with these water pumps. When Rangajeeva and other Narcotics Bureau officers checked her house on Bandaranaike Mawatha, she was in a housing complex in Dematagoda. She escapes from that house to Singapore on the same day. She set foot in this country again after being acquitted in the water motor incident. Siddiq has spent a lot of money for that.
Sidique’s name surfaced once again after the controversial drug raid by the Police Special Task Force made in Kelaniya. On June 11, 2014, 85 kilos of heroin was found near the Kelaniya temple while being transported by a car. Two people were also arrested there. Further investigation by the Police Narcotics Bureau reveals that Vele Suda and Siddique are behind the drug haul. Both of them were in Dubai at that time. From there, the two of them not only sent drugs to Sri Lanka, but also shipped them from Sri Lanka to Seychelles and Maldives. For that, they sent hundreds of kilos of drugs from Pakistan to this country. Police Narcotics Bureau officials also discovered that during that time they brought more than 1000 kilos of heroin to Sri Lanka by hiding them in tractor engines. 26 of those tractor engines were found in a warehouse near Kelaniya by the officers of the Narcotics Bureau.
At the same time, the authorities of this country took steps to issue red notices to Vele Suda and Siddique through International Police. Meanwhile, India has also issued a red warrant against Siddique for allegedly escaping from the Indian jail. All over the world, Siddiqui went despite those red notices. It is from foreign passports prepared under other names. In the latter half of 2014, Vele Suda and Siddique, who were hiding around without even being caught by the International Police, came to an end.
That’s because when they both came to Pakistan from Dubai, they were caught in a special operation by the country’s security forces. At that time, Siddique was also married from Pakistan. She is the sister of a powerful drug dealer in that country. That is how Siddique built up immense power in the drug trade. The drug dealer was in an area close to the Afghanistan border. It is there that Siddiqui and Vele Suda were arrested by the country’s security forces. Vele Sudava was the first of these to be handed over to this country. With the heat of the presidential election. At that time, there was a great interest among the Pakistani drug traffickers to rescue Siddique, but the Pakistani security forces decided to deport Siddique to this country considering that Siddique was a threat to Pakistan’s national security as he was also in contact with India. Accordingly, Siddique was handed over to Sri Lanka in January 2015. It was a few days after the end of the presidential election. A special police team of the Criminal Investigation Department goes to Pakistan and brings Siddique with tight security.
At that time, there were only four or five drug related cases pending against Siddique in the courts of this country. There was only one case directly accusing him of drug trafficking. It is the case related to the arrest of a group including Priyantha Jayakodi in 2003 with weapons and 20 grams of heroin. Apart from that, the rest of the cases were for aiding and abetting drug trafficking.
Siddiqe, who was detained in the Criminal Investigation Department for more than six months, was remanded until the proceedings against him are completed. That is once again, considering the possibility of him fleeing the country. At that time, the case of the seizure of drugs in Boralasgamuwa was taken up in the Colombo High Court. Although 20 grams of Heroin produced by Priyantha Jayakodi and other officers according to the report received from the government analysts department, the net amount of heroin was 8 grams and 03 milligrams. A case was filed against the five people including Siddique to that extent. The long trial end on September 13, 2018. At that time, many cases against him had ended without any charges against him. Among them, bail was granted in one of the cases, but because the case in Boralasgamuwa was taken up for hearing, Siddique was in remand prison as he was not granted bail.
Siddiqui thinks he is free now. Disguised as an Indian, he is running the drug trade freely without knowing that the International Police has issued a red notice against him from India. Even India is paying more attention to that red notice after it was revealed in an investigation by the country’s intelligence and security agencies that Sri Lankan drug traffickers are operating in India in a way that threatens India’s national security.
That is why many of the main underworld criminals of this country, including Kimbula ela Guna, are currently in the custody of the Indian investigative agencies. The memory of Siddique is fresh for the Indian security forces because information about Siddique came out during the interrogation and investigations of criminals in custody including Kimbula ela Guna. It is there that they start looking for Siddique and it is revealed that he is disguised as an Indian. Accordingly, the Indian security forces took steps to update even the Red Notice issued against Siddique by the International Police. As it turns out, Siddiqui is imprisoned in Oman as a result. So far, Siddiqui has not been handed over to India from Oman. The facts are disclosed that the related extraditions are currently taking place. –Silumina
Gayan Kumara Weerasinghe