A bus driver and three conductors have been arrested by Padukka Police after testing positive for narcotics while working on passenger services, Hiru News reported.
The arrests followed a special drug-screening operation held on Wednesday targeting the crews of Sri Lanka Transport Board and private buses running through Padukka town. More than 100 drivers and conductors were tested during the operation.
The screening was organised jointly by the National Transport Medical Institute (NTMI) and Padukka Police. The four arrested were found to have been using narcotic substances while on duty.
Part of a widening testing programme
The operation is the latest in a series of roadside screenings run under the National Road Safety Programme, which conducts random drug tests on drivers, conductors and assistants working in public transport.
The scheme currently operates in five of the country’s nine provinces, and 7,150 tests had been carried out under it as of earlier this week. The NTMI has said it intends to extend testing to the remaining provinces as staffing and equipment allow.
Testing capacity was expanded on Monday, when the Ministry of Health and Mass Media handed a fully equipped mobile laboratory bus to the NTMI. Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said at the time that investigations into a number of road accidents had found drivers allegedly using narcotics, and that strengthening the transport ministry’s testing unit had become a timely necessity.
Similar operations have produced arrests at bus stands across the Western Province in recent months, including six transport workers detained at Horana in June after 151 people were screened.
Hiru News did not report whether the buses involved were taken out of service or when the four arrested are due to be produced in court.
