• Rehab only if court ordered 

The Police Department said that Police officers who are caught taking drugs like cannabis (ganja) will be given a transfer in the first instance if they are identified, while officers who are found to be using heroin or crystal methamphetamine (Ice) will be arrested and dismissed from the Police service after being produced before courts.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (18), Police Media Spokesperson Senior Superintendent of Police and attorney Nihal Thalduwa said that intelligence officers have been deployed on the orders of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to identify and arrest Police officers who are addicted to dangerous drugs such as ice and heroin. He also said that the IGP has alerted all senior Police officers to pay attention to officers suspected of using such drugs in Police stations and to deploy intelligence officers to monitor the conduct of those officers. “Recently, we noticed an increase in the number of drug-related cases affiliated with the officers in the Department. As a law enforcement authority, the Department has a huge responsibility to maintain the rule of law in the country. But, if we can find the people who break the laws within the Police itself, how can we direct the public to follow those laws? Therefore, the IGP directed all the senior cops to be attentive and to take actions against it if anyone has committed a wrong thing,” he said.

However, when queried by The Daily Morning as to whether the Department has taken any measures to rehabilitate the Police officers who are addicted to drugs, Thalduwa said that no such measure has been taken by the Police since the Department has no power to do so. He also said that the Department will act according to the instructions given by the courts, and that therefore, if the relevant court decides that a particular Police officer should be rehabilitated, it will be done by those relevant authorities. He noted that all the actions are taken according to the civil law, even though the officers are wearing a Police uniform.

According to sources at the Police Headquarters, only junior Police officers have been arrested so far, and two probationary Sub-Inspectors were also among the arrestees. It is reported that most of the officers who are caught using drugs are from the Western Province. Recently, a team of Policemen nabbed a Police Constable with 50 milligrams of opium and several rounds of ammunition. According to the Department, the suspect was a drug addict.