A Sub-Inspector attached to the Dehiwala Police Station has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in drug trafficking, Police Spokesperson Assistant Superintendent of Police F.U. Wootler said on Wednesday.
Wootler said the Officer-in-Charge of the Dehiwala Police Station has begun an investigation into the arrested officer. The OIC, who examined the individuals the Sub-Inspector had been associating with, confirmed that the officer was involved in drug trafficking, according to the Police Spokesperson.
The arrested Sub-Inspector is a resident of Matara and has served in the police force for three years.
In a later account of the arrest, Wootler said the officer was taken into custody after heroin, cannabis and foreign-manufactured cigarettes were found in his possession, Ada Derana reported. Preliminary investigations indicated the 26-year-old officer was heavily addicted to narcotics, according to police.
The two accounts frame the case differently: NewsFirst reported the arrest as one over alleged drug trafficking, while Ada Derana described it as the possession of narcotics. Police have not published a charge sheet, and the quantities recovered have not been disclosed.
The suspect is due to be produced before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court. Further inquiries into the officer will be handled by the Officer-in-Charge of the Dehiwala Crimes Division, Wootler said. Police have not named him.
The arrest is the latest in a run of disciplinary and criminal cases involving serving officers. Four constables in Ambalangoda were suspended in June after drug tests confirmed use, and a Sub-Inspector was suspended on July 26 over conduct captured in a viral video.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said earlier this month that other divisions or the Special Task Force would carry out drug raids where local police fail to act, under what he described as a zero-tolerance policy.
