The Sri Lankan police announced on Sunday December 24 that they had arrested nearly 15,000 people during a vast anti-drug operation carried out over a week with the support of the army and criticized by human rights activists.
Nearly 13,700 suspected traffickers were arrested, as well as 1,100 consumers, who will have to undergo a detoxification program in army centers, police detailed. The operation led to the seizure of 440 kilos of narcotics, including 272 kilos of cannabis and nine kilos of heroin.
“Only poor areas”
This vast dragnet was strongly criticized by human rights activists. Lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah argued that the searches and arrests were carried out without legal warrants and called on those affected to take down the officers’ identifiers for a legal challenge.
Activist Ambika Satkunanathan, for her part, highlighted the absence of prior investigations and judged that the raid was aimed at “only poor areas” while sparing big traffickers.
According to the police, the operation must resume from December 27, the police being mobilized by public security tasks during the holidays.
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