12/25/2023 1:44 pm (current 12/25/2023 1:50 pm)
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued the amnesty ©APA/AFP
Police in the island nation of Sri Lanka have so far arrested more than 14,000 people in a nationwide operation on suspicion of drug trafficking. A police spokesman said on Monday of the arrests, which have now lasted a week, that those affected are people who are believed to have sold or consumed the banned substances. Some people have already been released on bail to avoid overcrowding in prisons, he said.
However, your personal information has been recorded and you will have to appear in court later. The Colombo government has called for an investigation because the narcotics business has been growing in Sri Lanka for years. According to police, the tropical island paradise south of India is also an international drug trafficking center. Most substances are smuggled into the country by sea, where children themselves consume them. Cannabis would also be grown domestically. According to official data, a total of more than 25 thousand people are currently imprisoned for involvement in drug trafficking – a crime that can be punished by death.
During the current operation on houses, stores and vehicles, agents seized more than ten kilos of heroin and other drugs. They also confiscated vehicles, properties and boats that the perpetrators allegedly purchased with their profits.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 prisoners were released from chronically overcrowded prisons as part of a Christmas amnesty. Their pardon was thanks to instructions from President Ranil Wickremesinghe, a spokesman for the prison authority of the predominantly Buddhist island state said on Monday. However, prisoners convicted of murder, rape or drug trafficking were not released, it was said.
In Sri Lanka, prisoners are released on important religious festivals or special anniversaries – such as independence from British colonial rulers in 1948. Human rights organizations criticize the country for the fact that its prisons are significantly overcrowded.