Police burn about 40,000 cannabis plants hidden in Hambegamuwa orchards
Hambegamuwa police burned about 23,000 cannabis plants in a banana field of about one acre and about 17,000 more in an orange grove of about three-quarters of an acre at Rathbalawewa, and arrested two local residents. Police put the crop at about 10 million rupees. The suspects were to be produced at Wellawaya Magistrate's Court.
🇱🇰 Rathbalawewa, Hambegamuwa, Monaragala · Sri Lanka
- Arrested
- 2
- Plants destroyed
- 40,000
- Hectares
- 0.7
- Value (official estimate)
- LKR 10,000,000
Hambegamuwa police raided two cannabis plots hidden among fruit trees at Rathbalawewa and burned the plants on the spot.[1][2] Hiru News reported an estimated 23,000 plants, nearly five and a half feet tall, on about one acre inside a banana plantation, and about 17,000 more on about three-quarters of an acre inside an orange grove.[1] Ceylonwire reported more than 23,000 plants in the banana field and about 17,000 in the orange grove, and said the raid followed a tip.[2]
Police put the crop at about 10 million rupees.[1][2] Two residents of the Hambegamuwa area were arrested and were to be produced before the Wellawaya Magistrate’s Court.[1][2] Neither account names them.[1][2]
Sources
- Police seize massive cannabis plantations in Hambegamuwa. Hiru News, 13 October 2026.
- හම්බෙගමුවෙන් රුපියල් කෝටියක මහා පරිමාණ ගංජා වගාවක්. Ceylonwire, 13 October 2026. In Sinhala.
Open questions the AI reported
- Both reports are dated 13 October 2026 and do not give the hour of the raid.
- Hiru News says an estimated 23,000 plants in the banana field. Ceylonwire says more than 23,000. Both say about 17,000 in the orange grove. The 40,000 figure is that sum.
- The suspects are not named.
- An earlier Hambegamuwa raid of a three-acre field is a different event.