Concerted effort to crush organised crime, drugs – Minister

Public Security Minister Tiran Alles on Saturday declared an all-out battle against organized crime and narcotic crimes amid a rising number of such offenders.

Joining a special programme organized to educate the community Police Committees in the Matara area, the Minister stressed that operations against organized crime by underworld gangs and drug raids will not be halted due to pressure or any influence.

“We have already planned the necessary programme to be implemented in this regard. Necessary instructions have been given to the Acting Inspector General and the Special Task Force Commanding Officer”, he said.The Minister further said that the Police, together with the Navy, are implementing a special programme against drug smugglers who bring illegal drugs to Sri Lanka on a large scale using sea routes.

“Our special focus is to completely disable this drug trafficking network,” he added.

The Public Security Minister said that earlier there were instances of influential persons exerting pressure to release large scale drug traffickers from custody and stressed that he would not allow such things to happen again.

The Minister also said that during talks, the President had assured that whatever measures or decisions on his part to help efforts to combat crime and drugs will be taken promptly without any delay.The Minister also observed that due the recent crises like the struggle (Aragalaya), crimes and drug trafficking in the country rose as the Police had to divert its manpower and resources to deal with the unrest.

The Minister also noted that there was a lot of opposition to the appointment of the current Acting IGP from certain quarters and when looking into this deeper it has been revealed that some of these elements are the ones backing drug traffickers and gangs engaged in organized crime.

While noting that crimes against women and children are on the rise, the Minister said from January onwards a 24/7 hotline will be introduced to receive complaints and information and this will be operated by female police officers. The Minister also urged the public to report crime and those engaged in illegal activities and stressed that confidentiality of such information will be strictly adhered to.

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