Puttalam, May 19 - Over 280 kgs of narcotics were destroyed using a new high-powered incinerator built at a cost of over Rs. 11 million at Vanathavilluwa in Puttalam yesterday.

Police said that a total of 251 kgs of heroin and 38 kgs of Methamphetamine (ICE) were destroyed in the presence of Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles and IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon.

Previously, the government had to spend a significant amount of money to destroy seized stocks of drugs due to the lack of a permanent facility for this purpose. As a permanent solution, the new high-powered incinerator has been installed on 20 perches of land in the Lactose Garden area of Vanathavilluwa, owned by the STF. The Sri Lanka Navy prepared the site for the installation of the incinerator with the Sri Lanka Police spending Rs. 6.34 million for the preparation.

The destruction of the drugs was supervised by the Puttalam Magistrate, representatives of the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board and officers of the Government Analyst's Department and were destroyed at a temperature between 800 and 1200 degrees Celsius.