COLOMBO, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan police on Thursday arrested two suspects with drugs valued at an estimated 11,000 U.S. dollars from a house in Thihariya in the Western province, local media reported.
The suspects were nabbed when they arrived in a tuk tuk with a stock of Kerala cannabis, an illegal narcotic, which police suspected had been smuggled into the country from India.
The suspects, both residents from the Southern district of Galle, will be presented before a local court later Thursday.
Sri Lankan investigators, on instructions of President Maithripala Sirisena, have since January launched a severe crackdown on drug dealers and smugglers, with several arrests being made within the past two months.
In a meeting with local editors on Wednesday, Sirisena commended the police narcotics bureau, tri forces, the Excise Department and Coast Guard for their commitment and support in combating the drug menace in the country.
"Raids and search operations are being carried out despite the absence of high tech equipment," Sirisena said.
He added that he will invest in the latest technology to prevent narcotic rackets in the country and vowed to make Sri Lanka free from illegal drugs by 2020.
Sirisena said the large stocks of drugs which had been seized within the past few months through raids will be dissolved and chemically destroyed with scientific methods in the presence of magistrates and judiciary at Katunayake, in the outskirts of capital Colombo on April 1.
