Don Chinthaka Jatila Mahaneela Kodagoda vs. The Officer-in-Charge, Police Narcotics Bureau, Colombo-01 and The Attorney General – CA BAIL/0063/2023-2023

In the case between Don Chinthaka Jatila Mahaneela (Petitioner, father of the suspect) and the Officer-in-Charge of the Police Narcotics Bureau, the Attorney General’s Department, and associated law enforcement agencies (Respondents), the court examined whether sufficient exceptional circumstances existed to justify granting bail under Section 83 of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (as amended by Act No. 41 of 2022) for an alleged trafficking offence involving 3.7658 kilograms of cocaine. The judgment established that the seriousness of the offence, the commercial scale of the narcotics involved, and the risk of absconding outweighed arguments concerning the absence of drugs at the time of arrest and the extended remand of over 19 months. The application for bail was dismis