A 25-year-old security guard attached to the National Water Supply and Drainage Board’s Gorakadeniya Water Treatment Plant has been arrested by Peradeniya Police after officers recovered around 6.1 kilograms of cannabis from inside the facility’s guard room, The Island reported.
Peradeniya Police Officer-in-Charge Chief Inspector Wijith Wijekoon led an intelligence-led operation on June 2 that took the suspect, a resident of Gorakadeniya, into custody. A bag containing the cannabis was found during a search of the guard room.
Investigators believe the guard had been using the facility as a storage location for narcotics and had been distributing the drug to customers across the Peradeniya area using a motorcycle in a location-based delivery operation. Police suspect he had been involved in drug trafficking activities for a considerable period and obtained a detention order from court to facilitate further interrogation.
Authorities expect the ongoing investigation to uncover additional information about the suspect’s alleged links to a wider narcotics distribution network operating in the Peradeniya area. The suspect is to be produced before court following the completion of preliminary investigations.
The arrest follows a series of recent provincial drug seizures, including the 26 kg cannabis haul at Pahanakaduwa on May 29 linked to a cattle-theft network, and the Udawalawe National Park cultivation bust of 155,000 plants earlier this year.
