2,121 arrested and 178 kg of ganja seized in Yukthiya's first 24 hours
Sri Lankan police said they arrested 2,121 suspects, 2,020 men and 101 women, across the island in the first 24 hours of Operation Yukthiya, which ended at 6 a.m. on 18 December 2023. The sweep recovered 178 kg of cannabis and 30,550 cannabis plants, police obtained 12 detention orders and 133 people were sent to rehabilitation.
Sri Lankan police said they arrested 2,121 suspects in an island-wide special
operation in the 24 hours ending at 6 a.m. on 18 December 2023, the first full
day of Operation Yukthiya.[1]The 2,121 suspects were 2,020 men and 101 women.[1]Police obtained detention orders against 12 suspects and sent 133 people to
rehabilitation.[1]
Officers recovered 178 kilograms of cannabis, which News First described as the
dominant drug seized in the sweep.[1]Police also reported recovering 30,550
cannabis plants during the same 24 hours.[1]
The Police Special Task Force and the Air Force ran the operation on the orders
of Acting Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon.[1]
Most of those arrested came from the Western Province.[2]Police said 116 of
the 3,340 people listed in their Special Branch and Narcotics Bureau databases
for the operation had been arrested.[2]
The sweep combined the police, including its Narcotics and Special Bureau, with
the armed forces and the Police Special Task Force.[2]
Photos and video
Photo run with the report on the first 24-hour sweep of Operation Yukthiya, captioned only with the operation headline; no credit is given, and it is not established which arrest it shows.Photo details
News First gives 2,100-plus arrests without a total and no plant count; the 2,121 total and 30,550 plants come from Newswire's account of the same police statement.
No street value, charge or court outcome was reported for the arrested suspects.
Newswire dates the 24-hour window to 6 a.m. on 18 December, while News First describes the operation as launched "just yesterday", i.e. 17 December.
The 133 people sent for rehabilitation are recorded as released; the sources do not say whether they faced charges.
News First reports 200 army personnel, 200 police officers and 50 Special Task Force members on this deployment; Newswire instead names the Special Task Force and Air Force.
No count of raid sites or seizures per province was published.
The News First page photo carries only the headline as caption and no credit, so it is linked but not established to show this operation.
Galle District Crime Division officers arrested a 41-year-old Unawatuna resident in a local raid and recovered over 125 grams of Kush alongside crystal methamphetamine. Police said further investigations into the possession case were underway.
A man detained while taking part in the sit-in against the Anuradhapura Sacred City Development Plan, on a charge of obstructing police duties, has been found to have used both heroin and cannabis. Two civilians were arrested over the confrontation between police and Buddhist monks near the Ruwanweli Maha Seya stupa.
Airport Police Narcotics Bureau officers arrested a 37-year-old Indian businessman at Bandaranaike International Airport early on 7 November 2026 as he allegedly tried to smuggle kush and hashish out of Sri Lanka. They found 2.102 kg of kush in tins labelled as tamarind toffees and 5.26 kg of hashish shaped like toffees, which police valued at about Rs 231.42 million.
Police in Madiwela, Kotte, arrested a 25-year-old local resident in a night raid on 6 November 2026 and seized 558 grams of Kush, a cannabis product, along with heroin and crystal methamphetamine. The Western Province North Crime Division, which ran the raid on received information, said investigations were continuing.
