President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Friday that 186,000 individuals had been arrested in four months of the Ratama Ekata anti-drug operation, declaring that political protection for the narcotics trade had “for the first time” been dismantled.
Authorities had seized 1,947 kilograms of heroin since the operation launched on October 30, 2025, the President said — “equivalent to about 39 fertilizer bags.” A further 2,062 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (“ice”), 289 kilograms of cocaine and 83 automatic firearms had been taken off the streets in the same period, NewsFirst reported.
“Within just four months, we have arrested 186,000 individuals. Among them are 6,064 boys under the age of 21 and 138 girls. This clearly shows the extent to which the youth have been affected,” he said. The arrest figure is up roughly 18,000 from the 168,460 reported on May 7 at a Ratama Ekata National Steering Council review.
Dissanayake acknowledged the deeply entrenched forces behind the drug trade. “There was a time when political power stood behind it. There was a time when state power supported it. There is still financial power backing it. This is a doorway opened with the support of immense power,” he said. He framed his government’s response as a deliberate severing of that political shield: “We must close it.”
The President cautioned that the seizures represent only a fraction of the narcotics in circulation. “I do not think we have caught all the drugs entering the country. If we had seized everything, there would be no reason for traffickers to continue bringing them in,” he said, according to Newswire. “If the quantity of drugs we have managed to seize is this large, one can imagine how much may still be circulating within the country.”
The Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill is scheduled for Cabinet, and the government is examining a dedicated narcotics court alongside faster Government Analyst reporting to speed prosecutions.
