The National University Teachers’ Association (NUTA) stated that there were rising suspicions among the public that cabinet ministers were aiding and abetting the trade of illegal narcotics in Sri Lanka.

Issuing a letter to President Maithripala Sirisena, the Secretary of the NUTA, Senior Lecturer Channa Jayasumana commended the President’s concern for the abuse of narcotics by students, and proceeded to present a few findings of the Association as well.

Accordingly, he stated that the Association had received knowledge that as of late, rural villages in Sri Lanka had seen an increased incidence of abuse of drugs such as moonshine, ganja, hashish and heroin.

Speaking on the cabinet ministers’ alleged involvement in the narcotic trade, he pointed out that although thousands of kilos of drugs had been discovered multiple times inside containers used to import sugar, no information had been revealed as to who was responsible nor what had happened to the discovered drugs, for that matter.

Citing examples, the Secretary remarked that thousands of kilograms of narcotics had been discovered just last week inside a vehicle owned by Sathosa, a company under the Minister of Trade, Rishad Bathiudeen. Minister of Finance and Mass Media, Mangala Samaraweera’s personal secretary had also reportedly been caught yesterday (07) possessing a number of illegal drugs.

He then explained that such incidents had created suspicion amongst the public about the involvement of cabinet ministers in the trade of substances of abuse.

He pointed out to the President that such incidents affected both the President and his Yahapalanaya Government in an adverse manner.

He also pointed out that the spread of drug abuse across the island was contributing towards the destruction of ethnicities and the society at large.

Drawing his letter to a close, the Secretary thus requested that the President take legal action against those contributing to the trade of narcotics without consideration for their positions of office.