Missing heroin dealer sentenced to 40 years

(Published in Daily Mirror on 14/06/2016)

By Shehan Chamika Silva

Velayudan Mathias alias Kudu Mervin, who went missing after being abducted several years ago, was yesterday sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on two counts, each running consecutively by the Colombo High Court for acquiring properties worth Rs. 29 million from illegal heroin smuggling in 2008.

Delivering the conviction, Colombo High Court Judge Padmini N. Ranawaka Goonathilaka also imposed a fine of Rs. 25.5 million against the convict on the two counts and held that failure to pay would result in additional four years of imprisonment to the punishment.

Several years ago, convict Velayudan Mathias alias Kudu Mervin, had been abducted by some unknown group of people in front of the Hultsdorp Court Complex, while he was escorted back to prison.

Subsequently, the trial was conducted in absentia, under section 241 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The Court also issued an open warrant and red notice on the suspect.

Earlier, the Attorney General’s Department had filed indictments against the suspect in Colombo High Court on two counts of acquiring properties from heroin smuggling during 2008 in the Kelaniya area.