Arrested for drug offences

Most of the foreigners who have been arrested for drug offences in the country over the past few years have been taken into custody for heroin possession, statistics released by police show.

According to the PNB, 85 out of 146 foreigners arrested for drug offences since 2016 have been arrested for heroin possession.

Of the 43 foreigners arrested last year for drug offences, 15 were arrested for heroin possession.

Indians make up the largest number of foreigners arrested for drug offences with 32 arrests for possession of various drugs including heroin. Pakistanis come next with 27 arrests while 20 Maldivians have also been arrested.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice and Prison Reforms noted that the Ministry has forwarded a list of the names of 48 individuals who had been sentenced to death for drug offences to the Presidential Secretariat since the announcement by President Maithripala Sirisena of his intention to implement capital punishment on death row inmates who have been engaging in drug trafficking from within prison. The Ministry notes that 30 of these 48 individuals have appealed their death sentences and their appeals are pending in court.

Three names out of those who had exhausted their appeals have been identified as inmates whose death sentences can be carried out, according to the ministry.