Operation Yukthiya continues with police saying the hunt is on for 3000 key players
While nearly 18,000 people have been arrested, two weeks into the 'Yukthiya' (Justice) countrywide law enforcement operation, authorities are hunting for more than 3,000 other suspected criminals seen as “key players” in domestic drug trafficking.
Before it started, the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) and the Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) had identified 4,665 persons as being leading suspects. By Friday, 1,375 of these main players had been arrested, statistics from the Ministry of Public Security show. Accordingly, a further 3,290 key suspects remain at large. Some are believed to have gone into hiding. Several houses belonging to them, which have been abandoned, were raided by police in recent days.
By Friday morning, 17, 837 suspects had been arrested since the start of the operation on December 17, the Public Security Ministry says. Detention orders had been obtained or were in the process of being obtained for 850 of these suspects while 186 were being investigated by the Illegal Assets or Property Investigation Division for suspected illegally acquired assets. A further 1,187 were referred to rehabilitation.
The drugs recovered include 10.5kg of heroin, 6.7kg of 'Ice’ and 288.5kg of cannabis. Also confiscated were over 2.1 mn cannabis plants and 71, 271 narcotic pills. Police continue to seize vehicles, houses and other properties worth millions of rupees that they claim were acquired through drug money.
Various police divisions, as well as the Special Task Force (STF), are involved. The military plays a supporting role. The Ministry of Public Security and police have touted the operation as a success and insist it will continue, amid criticism of how searches are being conducted. Critics have also cited the low quantity of drugs recovered, especially heroin, compared to the thousands of arrests made so far.
Police this week responded to allegations of heavy-handedness and violation of procedure in the conduct of their house-to-house searches. Police Spokesman Senior Superintendent Nihal Thalduwa told journalists that “Yukthiya” was primarily an anti-narcotics operation and that warrants were not necessary to search for dangerous drugs or for firearms and explosives.
“During the time it takes to obtain a search warrant, such dangerous drugs, firearms and explosives can be hidden,” SSP Thalduwa said. “These searches are carried out as soon as information is received.
The searches themselves were not illegal, he reiterated. However, in the event some illegal act is committed (during the operation), citizens can invoke the legal protections they are accorded under the law, he said.
Among the arrests this week was that of an alleged drug trafficker based in Mattakkuliya known by the alias “Kudu Roshan”. He was part of a group detained by the Warakapola police on Wednesday. Among the 23 arrested were several children. A luxury vehicle they were travelling in was also seized. Police said the suspects told investigators that they went to Nuwara Eliya after Yukthiya was launched, then to Warakapola.
On Thursday, officers from the Illegal Assets or Property
Investigation Division and the Ja-Ela police raided a house and other properties allegedly owned by “Kudu Roshan” and his group in Ja-Ela. The suspects will now need to prove how they purchased the properties and where they earned the money to do so.
Meanwhile, the Dambulla police, who on Thursday searched a hotel, allegedly owned by several businessmen near the Dambulla main bus stand, said, they discovered a bag with vehicle number plates. A large number of officers, including women constables and police dogs, took part in the search on a tipoff that the hotel was being used to store and sell cannabis and other narcotic drugs.
While no drugs were recovered, an alert WPC discovered the bag with vehicle number plates from several provinces, police said. Those at the address did not provide a satisfactory explanation regarding so many number plates being in a bag at the hotel. Two suspects were taken into custody along with the items. Dambulla police is investigating whether the number plates were fake or real and whether they were being affixed to vehicles used in the commission of crimes or if they were taken from stolen ones.
Police continue to claim that the operation has significantly reduced the number of crimes reported countrywide. In the early hours of Christmas day, however, two persons were found shot dead inside a car in Thunthana, Padukka. The deceased were identified as alleged gang member Don Roshan Indika alias “Manna Roshan”, and an accomplice.
Initial investigations have revealed the men were at the location to purchase drugs. It is suspected that they were lured into a trap. At least one T56 assault rifle was used in the crime and it is believed several assailants were involved. The suspects remain at large.