Four bus drivers have been taken into police custody after a drug screening operation at the Tangalle town bus stand, police said on Monday.
Two of the drivers work for private bus operators and the other two are attached to the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), according to Ada Derana.
The screening was carried out jointly by officers of the Tangalle Police Traffic Division, officials of the Road Passenger Transport Authority and officers from the National Transport Medical Institute (NTMI). Urine sample tests on the four drivers indicated that all of them had used drugs.
Further action against the drivers is expected once the test results are processed. Police did not name the operators involved or say how many drivers were screened in total.
Part of a widening national programme
The Tangalle operation is the latest in a series of roadside screenings run under the National Road Safety Programme’s two-year strategic plan, which conducts random drug tests on drivers, conductors and assistants working in public transport.
The NTMI said last week that close to 10% of the drivers and conductors screened so far had tested positive, across the Western, Southern, North Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces. Tangalle falls within the Southern Province.
The programme’s reach has been expanding. Earlier this month the Health Ministry handed a fully equipped mobile testing laboratory to the NTMI, which at that point reported 7,150 tests completed and operations running in five provinces.
Similar sweeps have produced clusters of detections at bus stands through the year, including arrests at Padukka this month and earlier operations at Horana and Kalutara.
