Web Desk: Authorities have seized about 463 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine worth an estimated $21 million in a multinational counternarcotics operation involving the United States, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the US Embassy in Islamabad said.
The seizure, carried out in late August, followed the detection of suspicious shipping containers moving from Pakistan toward Colombo. The operation also led to the arrest of several suspects, including Pakistani nationals, according to the embassy.
The operation began after Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force identified containers scheduled for shipment from Pakistan to Colombo between Aug. 14 and 29.
The Karachi-based Port Control Unit flagged the containers after investigators suspected they could contain narcotics believed to have originated in Afghanistan. The ANF then alerted the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s Islamabad office, which coordinated with agencies in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
Sri Lankan authorities subsequently searched a container at Colombo Port and recovered the methamphetamine. Sri Lanka Police said the drugs had been concealed inside a shipment containing towels or body wipes.
The US Embassy said the operation involved the DEA office in Islamabad, Pakistan’s ANF, Sri Lanka’s Police Narcotics Bureau and the DEA’s New Delhi office.
The embassy described the case as part of efforts to disrupt transnational narcotics trafficking networks moving drugs across borders and into international markets.
Sri Lankan police separately reported that a local man was arrested in connection with the shipment. Three Pakistani nationals were also arrested during the subsequent investigation, according to Sri Lanka Police.
The US Embassy said the narcotics were suspected to have originated in Afghanistan, while other US reporting has described the operation as targeting a Pakistan-based trafficking network. The precise structure and origins of the network remain subject to investigation.
The operation demonstrates the role of intelligence sharing and coordinated law enforcement across South Asia, as authorities in several countries worked together to track the suspicious shipment from its point of departure toward Colombo.
The US government said it has supported training for Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force through foreign assistance programmes, describing the agency as an important partner in counternarcotics enforcement.
Washington has also pledged to continue working with Pakistan and other regional governments to target transnational criminal organisations involved in narcotics trafficking.
According to the US Embassy, the seized methamphetamine was valued at approximately $21 million. Sri Lankan authorities said the shipment was being moved through Colombo for re-export, indicating that the island was being used as a transit point rather than necessarily as the final destination.
The seizure adds to a series of recent regional efforts to intercept large shipments of synthetic drugs. For investigators, the case could provide further leads into trafficking routes linking Afghanistan, Pakistan and international markets.
Authorities in the countries involved are continuing to investigate the shipment and the individuals arrested in connection with it.
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