Eight bus drivers and one conductor were arrested in Kalutara on Monday after being found allegedly under the influence of narcotics while on duty, Ada Derana reported, citing police.
The arrests were made during a joint operation by Kalutara South Police and the National Transport Medical Institute, which conducted on-duty inspections of public-transport workers within the Kalutara South Police Division. Authorities detected nine individuals suspected of reporting to work under the influence of illegal drugs and took them into custody.
The suspects, aged between 35 and 57, are residents of Payagala, Yatiyana, Dodangoda, Thebuwana, Meegahathenna and Kalutara South. Police said further investigations are being conducted by the Kalutara South station.
The sweep is the second high-profile drug-impairment operation against bus drivers in the Western Province in a week. A parallel operation in Kadawatha last Wednesday was carried out under the same inter-agency model — local police partnering with the NTMI — to test drivers and conductors at the depot. The pattern signals a more systematic enforcement push by police and the transport medical authority to detect substance abuse on public-transport routes.
Source: Ada Derana.
