Padme Ice and Talc raids in Sri Lanka 🇱🇰

⭕ Sri Lankan 🇱🇰 police arrested four Sri Lankan underworld kingpins in Jakarta on Aug. 27 during a historic overseas operation. The suspects include Mandinu Padmasiri Perera, also known as “Kehelbaddara Padme.”

⭕ The group was flown to Sri Lanka on Aug. 30–31 after joint work with Indonesian police, Interpol, and 🇸🇬 agencies.

⭕ During questioning of the suspects, information about an ice factory in Nuwara Eliya came up, and police are now conducting raids on locations with goods used for ice production.

⭕ ~50,000 kg of chemicals to "make ICE" were found buried in two containers; police say 5 of 20 samples tested positive for Methenamine.

⭕ Sri Lanka Police have also uncovered over 100 kilograms of suspected chemical substances believed to be used in the production of 'Ice' (crystal methamphetamine) from a marshy field in the Kandana area.

⭕ According to reports, the chemical substances found in these places are talc stones, which have totally different industrial purposes than ice production.

⭕ As per the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, ICE (meth) is produced from precursors like ephedrine/pseudoephedrine or P2P/BMK - not talc.
https://www.unodc.org/roseap/uploads/archive/documents/2014/05/gsda/clean/2014_Global_Synthetic_Drugs_Assessment_CH9.pdf

⭕ Talc has massive industrial use in ceramics, pharmaceuticals, and paints. The majority of the talc importers are manufacturers.

⭕ Talc is an excipient in legal drug manufacturing - added to tablets/pills as a filler, anti-caking agent, or glidant.

⭕ In decorative paints (like wall paints), talc can make up to 35% by weight of the pigment/extender portion.

⭕ According to trade data from the World Bank's WITS/UN Comtrade (2023): Sri Lanka imported about 3,941,960 kg of natural steatite (talc), crushed or powdered, (amounting to 200 containers). Imports are by major ceramics, paint, and pharmaceutical producers.

⭕ In the illegal drug trade, talc has been misused as a cutting or bulking agent, meaning it can be mixed with street drugs like heroin, cocaine, or meth to increase volume and profit.

⭕ This does not mean talc is part of "ICE production." It is a filler criminals may add to the actual drug.

⭕ It's problematic when the media highlights everyday industrial chemicals as "meth ingredients" because this can hurt the legitimate companies that import and use these materials for proper purposes. Authorities & Media should focus more on investigating how the actual drugs and precursors enter the country if meth was indeed produced - this would be a more productive line of inquiry.

#SriLanka