Children aged between 11 and 17 have become the primary targets of drug traffickers in Sri Lanka, Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government Prof. Chandana Abeyratne said on Sunday, pointing to the breakdown of the family as a key enabler.
The minister was speaking at a Divisional Coordinating Committee meeting in Pallama, Puttalam District, where he linked rising child neglect and child abuse cases to the weakening of the family as a social unit.
“The weakening of the family as a social unit has led to child neglect and rising child abuse cases, which have become serious social issues,” Prof. Abeyratne said, according to NewsFirst. He framed the recruitment of school-age children by trafficking networks as a downstream symptom of those underlying social pressures, rather than purely a law-and-order problem.
The minister reiterated the government’s stated goal of eradicating the drug trade and said local government and administrative mechanisms had a role to play alongside police enforcement.
The remarks come as the government continues a sustained anti-narcotics drive. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s office said in May that the Rata Ekata operation, launched on October 30, 2025, had produced more than 186,000 drug arrests and the seizure of nearly two tonnes of heroin to date, with the President characterising the campaign as having “broken political protection” around the trade for the first time. Earlier in the cycle, Deputy Minister of Public Security Sunil Watagala said 4,750 drivers had been arrested for drug-impaired driving within four months — a data point cited by ministers when explaining how widely narcotics use has spread beyond traditional risk groups.
Prof. Abeyratne did not announce any new programme on Sunday but signalled the issue would be raised at further district coordinating committees as a recurring administrative priority.
