Two individuals have been arrested for allegedly transporting narcotics along the Southern Expressway, police said.

Following information received by the Kadawatha Police that drugs were being transported through the Kadawatha entrance of the Southern Expressway, two individuals were arrested at the Kadawatha exit while allegedly transporting ‘Kush’ cannabis and narcotic pills known as ‘mushrooms’ in a car.

During questioning, the driver of the car claimed to be a police officer and produced a police identity card identifying him as a Police Inspector, police said.

However, further investigations revealed that he was a former Police Sub-Inspector from Nagahaduwa, Payagala, who had been involved in a gold smuggling racket and had left the police service in 2024.

A subsequent search of his residence led to the recovery of 16 police uniforms, 68 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 12 T-56 rounds, six other rounds of ammunition, 600 foreign-manufactured cigarettes, five packs of handcuffs, two police pocket notebooks, two temporary driving licences, eight mobile phones, two weighing scales, five handcuffs, a large machete, four pistol holsters and an air revolver.

The suspect has been identified as a 30-year-old former Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) officer who is also in possession of an Interpol ID card, police said.

He is scheduled to be produced before the Mahara Magistrate’s Court today (18), where police are expected to seek a detention order to further investigate his alleged links to a drug trafficking network.