Sri Lankan authorities have seized drugs worth Rs. 218 billion this year, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Thursday, calling on religious leaders to join the national campaign against narcotics.

The President was speaking at a religious summit at Temple Trees in Colombo, held to mark the first anniversary of the ‘Quit’ operation. He said drug trafficking had spread to every section of society, from children to adults, and had reached religious institutions.

He said the haul included 6,528 kilogrammes of ‘Ice’ and 4,000 kilogrammes of heroin, as well as 314 kilogrammes of cocaine, 1,841 kilogrammes of hashish and nearly 4.5 million drug tablets and capsules. Including cannabis, he put the total value at Rs. 224 billion.

The President said arrests of young people had risen sharply. In 2022 only one person under 18 was arrested over ‘Ice’, he said, compared with 1,874 by 2025. He added that arrests this year included 1,068 children aged 14 to 18 and 13 children aged between five and 14.

He also said 67 suspects who were overseas had been brought back to Sri Lanka this year, and that Red Notices had been issued for 112 people. Assets worth Rs. 4.5 billion acquired through drug trafficking had been frozen, he said.

At the event he launched the official website of the ‘Ratama Ekata’ (A Nation United) national operation, www.1818.gov.lk. He invited all religious leaders to take a lead in changing attitudes within society.

Background

The President described a drug trade worth around Rs. 220 billion a year, which he said had allowed traffickers to bribe public officials, including some Customs officers, Department of Motor Traffic staff, immigration officers and certain police officers. He said a ‘shadow State’ had emerged and that the government had decided to dismantle it.

He said seized drugs could not previously be destroyed until the related court case had ended, which had fed public suspicion that they returned to the market. The government has since enacted legislation allowing their destruction, he said. A law passed in 2025 on the confiscation of unlawfully acquired assets is the basis for the confiscation of the Rs. 4.5 billion, he added.

On treatment, he said new rehabilitation centres had been set up in Batticaloa, Akuressa, Nittambuwa and Kandy, and existing centres at Kandakadu, Senapura and Vavuniya had been improved. The government would support centres run by temples, clergy and civil society groups, he said, and 259,000 community awareness programmes had been held.

The President also said 97 T-56 automatic rifles, 143 pistols, 47 AK-47 rifles and 105 revolvers had been seized this year. Audit reports had shown that some of the weapons came from the armed forces, he said.

What it means

For families, the figures point to the age at which young people are being drawn into the drug trade, with children as young as five among those arrested, according to the President. He said rehabilitation was needed alongside arrests.

The President said the government would act within the law and would not punish anyone outside it. He said the police, the Attorney General’s Department and the Government Analyst’s Department needed strengthening because trials were taking too long. The Government Analyst’s Department had a backlog of 36,000 reports, he said.