Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Ananda Wijepala said the government is prepared to intervene to protect police officers who carry out their duties honestly and with dedication, speaking at an event in Galgamuwa on Tuesday.
Wijepala said action could be taken to support officers who face disciplinary measures despite having performed their duties honestly and diligently, NewsFirst reported.
He drew a line, however, at misconduct itself, saying the government would have zero tolerance for deliberate bribery, corruption or fraud.
Institutions being strengthened
Strengthening the rule of law and ensuring justice and fairness remain core responsibilities of the government, the minister said, adding that the Police, the Prisons Department, the Attorney General’s Department and the judiciary are all being strengthened towards those ends.
He said the government has taken steps to break political influence over organised crime and to expose links between organised criminal groups and the drug trade — a theme he has returned to repeatedly, having told Parliament in August that the government was treating as extremely serious an alleged plot to assassinate the Inspector General of Police, and pledging protection for the IGP and officers serving under him.
The repatriation figure does not match the police count
Wijepala claimed that 67 organised crime suspects have been brought back to Sri Lanka so far, describing them as key figures involved in drug trafficking.
That number sits below the figure police themselves gave a day earlier. At a media briefing on the repatriation of “Bus Lalith”, ASP F.U. Wootler said police had brought back 42 Red Notice suspects since 2024 and a further 38 who were not subject to Red Notices — 80 in total, with arrangements under way for 109 more.
The gap is most plausibly one of scope rather than contradiction: the minister described his 67 specifically as drug trafficking figures, while the police total covers repatriated suspects generally. Neither he nor NewsFirst set out which count is being used, and no outlet has reconciled the two.
Remarks land in a difficult week for police conduct
The minister’s assurance on disciplinary action comes as the force handles a case running the other way. The Inspector General has ordered a special investigation into a video filmed inside the Ambalangoda Police Station, in which a man alleges his elderly father was assaulted by officers, and the Sub-Inspector who led the arresting team has since been transferred out of the station.
NewsFirst did not connect the Galgamuwa remarks to that case, and Wijepala was not reported as referring to any specific incident.
No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own report of the Galgamuwa remarks at the time of writing.
