The National Dangerous Drug Control Board (NDDCB) said that the board cannot take any legal action against unregistered rehabilitation centres since the institution is not mandated to do so by the laws under which it was established.

Last week, officers of Dehiwala police have arrested a pastor and another person who ran a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts which was not registered with the Drug Control Board, on Mallawatta Road in Dehiwala. The arrested suspects, aged 50 and 51, are residents of Dehiwala and Borella areas.

When asked by The Daily Morning yesterday (16), NDDCB Chairman Shakkya Nanayakkara said, the legal limitations were not only regarding any unregistered rehabilitation centre, but also regarding all the others. The NDDCB cannot intervene in such matters as it is not under the purview of NDDCB.

Nanayakkara said that it is the responsibility of the Department of Police to inquire into such incidents as the prosecution should be done under the Penal Code. He said NDDCB can only take actions regarding the rehabilitation centres which are registered under the NDDCB.

“These types of rehabilitation centres are not under our purview. Therefore, the power to take actions regarding such centres is vested upon the Police Department. But in my opinion, we cannot see that particular place as a rehabilitation centre. We do not know how they rehabilitated these people. It can either be a rehabilitation centre or a drug distribution centre. Therefore, a proper investigation should be carried out, and the Police should take steps to find more such places,” he added.

However, when we reached out to the Police Media Division, they said that two suspects have been taken into custody for the protection of 34 people who were residents of that centre and the inmates have been kept there without even minimum facilities. Further investigations in this regard are being conducted by the Dehiwala Police.

During the raid, a total of 34 alleged drug addicted people who were undergoing rehabilitation at the facility, were taken into police custody.