GOVT. DETERMINED TO CRUSH DRUG TRAFFICKING
Buddhasasana and Deputy Defence Minister Ratnasiri Wickremenayake on
Friday disclosed that the Government has taken a firm decision to
eliminate drug trafficking activities involving affluent people in the
country with the help of law enforcement officers.
He said it was pathetic that these people who are leading luxury lives
are still in the habit of slipping the security blanket by using various
methods.
He made these remarks at the annual awards ceremony, conducted by the
National Dangerous Drugs Control Board ( NDDCB ), in Colombo on Friday.
The awards were presented to a selected officers, attached to the
Police, Army and Navy who contributed immensely for minimizing the
selling, possessing and trafficking of dangerous drugs.
"As the Minister of Buddhasasana and Deputy Minister of Defence, I
have the sole responsibility of creating a well behaved society and
therefore the Government's first task is to protect the future
generation from consuming dangerous drugs such as heroin, opium,
cannabis and hashish," he said.
He said the Government has commenced many programmes to eradicate the
drug trafficking and steps have already been taken to eliminate this
menace from the grass roots level.
"Once this programme is getting activated any person who is found
guilty for drug related activities will be punished heavily without
looking to his position,' he added.
Minister Wickremenayake also thanked the officials who received awards
at the ceremony and said that their contribution cannot be valued since
it has greatly benefitted not only to create a better society but also
for the well-being of younger generation who are the leaders in the
future world.
Deputy Director, NDDCB Karunadasa Gamage said that a special programme
has been implemented to collect islandwide data of drug addicts with the
assistance of Police and also non governmental organisations who are
currently engaged in the drug elimination program.
