A 23-year-old man has been arrested in Galnewa on suspicion of selling cannabis-laced intoxicating substances to schoolchildren and to students attending private tuition classes, police said.
The arrest followed a raid carried out jointly by Galnewa Police officers and Community Health Medical Officers attached to the North Central Provincial Department of Ayurveda, acting on information received by police.
What was seized
Officers recovered 94 small packets containing cannabis from the suspect. They also took into custody 15 bottles holding 150 grams each and 21 bottles holding 250 grams each of cannabis-laced substances.
Police put the total quantity of cannabis-laced substances seized at 9 kilogrammes and 296 grams.
The suspect, a resident of Sewanagala, is in police custody. Galnewa Police are conducting further investigations.
Second such case this year
It is not the first time this year that sellers have been accused of marketing cannabis-infused preparations at schoolchildren. In June, the Nuwara Eliya Police Anti-Vice Unit arrested a suspect running an unlicensed Ayurveda shop with 3,755 cannabis-infused “Madana Modaka” pills allegedly prepared for sale to school students, sold under the guise of Ayurveda medicine.
Police have stepped up enforcement against narcotics distribution in recent months, with raids reported across the country.
