Army and police destroy 63,992 cannabis plants in Thanamalwila
Sri Lanka Army intelligence, Thanamalwila Police and local Army personnel raided cannabis plantations at three sites in Unakanda, Hambegamuwa, destroying 63,992 plants across 2.25 acres and burning them on site.
🇱🇰 Unakanda, Hambegamuwa, Thanamalwila, Monaragala District · Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Army intelligence officers, Thanamalwila Police and local Army
personnel raided cannabis plantations at three locations in the Unakanda,
Hambegamuwa area of Thanamalwila, acting on intelligence inputs.[1]
The joint team destroyed 58,320 plants on 1.5 acres, 3,722 plants on half an
acre and 1,950 plants on a quarter acre, a total of 63,992 plants across 2.25
acres.[1]All of the uprooted plants were burned on site so they could not be
processed or distributed further.[1]
The report names no arrests and no dried cannabis recovered at the sites.[1]
Photos and video
Uprooted cannabis plants burning at the Thanamalwila eradication site, with an officer standing by. Photo: LankaXpressPhoto details
Officers of the Monaragala Police Narcotics Bureau raided a two-acre cannabis cultivation in the Maw Ara area of Hambegamuwa and arrested three suspects. All 36,710 plants, six to eight feet tall, were uprooted and burned on site, and the suspects were handed to Hambegamuwa Police.
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.
Sri Lanka's Coast Guard and the Police Special Task Force arrested one person and burned more than 50,000 locally cultivated cannabis saplings in the Yala Jungle area. The suspect was handed to Kataragama Police for further investigation.
Acting on army intelligence, Hambegamuwa police and soldiers raided a three-acre cannabis field inside the Udawalawe reserve on 11 April and seized about 155,000 plants worth Rs 4.5 million. The reports name no arrests.
