Police arrested 437 suspects during islandwide search operations targeting criminal activity and drug-related offences conducted on Saturday, Ada Derana reported.
A total of 33,024 individuals were checked during the operations, police said.
Breakdown of arrests
Of those taken into custody, 15 were identified as directly involved in criminal activities, while 135 were suspects wanted under open warrants.
Traffic enforcement accounted for the largest share of the remainder: 65 people were arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and 68 for reckless driving. Police said legal action was initiated against a further 4,189 individuals for other traffic offences.
Part of a rolling campaign
The operations form part of a continuing nationwide policing effort that has been mounted on a near-daily basis this year, with results announced the following morning. Comparable rounds have produced 540 arrests in May and larger tallies on other days, though the number of people screened has climbed steadily — Saturday’s figure of 33,024 is among the highest reported in recent months.
The campaign runs alongside a broader crackdown on narcotics and a sustained traffic-enforcement push. Police have separately reported more than 271,000 helmet-related cases filed so far this year as part of efforts to reduce road deaths, which remain concentrated among motorcyclists.
Police did not provide a district-level breakdown of the arrests, or say what quantity of narcotics, if any, was recovered during the operations.
Sources: Ada Derana.
