Sri Lanka launches Operation Yukthiya against drug suspects
Acting Inspector General Deshabandu Tennekoon, backed by Public Security Minister Tiran Alles, launched a nationwide anti-drug operation on 17 December that arrested at least a thousand people a day in its first weeks.
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
Acting Inspector General Deshabandu Tennekoon, backed by Public Security Minister Tiran Alles, launched a nationwide anti-drug operation on 17 December that arrested at least a thousand people a day in its first weeks. By 9 January the reported total had passed 29,000, with about 1,500 held in administrative detention and 1,600 sent to compulsory rehabilitation; most arrests were under the non-bailable drug-trafficking section. Human Rights Watch and other groups said many arrests had no apparent evidence, that soldiers took part in raids, and that detainees faced abuse in military-run centres.[1][2]
Sources
- Sri Lanka: Stop Abusive Anti-Drug Operation and Release Those Arbitrarily Detained (15 January 2024). Human Rights Watch. Launch 17 December 2023; 1,000 arrests a day; 29,000 by 9 January; 1,500 administrative detention; 1,600 compulsory rehabilitation; section 54A non-bailable; military support..
- World Report 2025: Sri Lanka. Human Rights Watch. Drug Policy section; over 100,000 arrests by May 2024; torture allegations; military-run rehabilitation centres..