Four bus drivers and two conductors were arrested at the Horana main bus stand on Thursday after testing positive for narcotic substances during a joint police-medical screening operation, Ada Derana reported.
The operation was carried out by traffic officers from the Horana, Ingiriya, Moragahahena and Aguruwathota police stations together with officials of the National Transport Medical Institute (NTMI). Drivers and conductors of passenger buses commencing journeys from Horana, as well as those passing through the town, were stopped and tested at the main stand. A total of 151 transport workers were screened during the operation, with six found to have been using narcotic substances while on duty in passenger transport services.
Police also took four buses operated by the arrested drivers into custody. The suspects are between 34 and 61 years of age and are residents of Kuda Oduwa, Ballapitiya, Kalugahahinna, Govinna and Egodahena. Further investigations are being conducted by the Horana Police.
The Horana sweep adds to a series of targeted transport-sector and town-centre drug operations conducted across the country in recent months as part of the Rata Ekata anti-narcotics campaign, launched in late 2025 and credited by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake with pushing total arrests past 186,000 by the end of May 2026. Drug-impaired driving has been a recurring concern in the country’s bus sector, and the Horana stand has been the busiest passenger-transport hub in the Kalutara district since 120 private buses on the Horana-Colombo route were temporarily withdrawn earlier this week over an unrelated fare dispute.
