The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) yesterday (23) raised concerns regarding the manner in which the ‘Yukthiya’ (Justice) programme was being carried out.

BASL President Kaushalya Nawaratne told The Sunday Morning that the manner in which ‘Yukthiya’ was currently operating would result in immediate seizures of property and suspects being taken into custody. 

He said: “They must display the same level of enthusiasm throughout; it cannot come up all of a sudden when an Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) is appointed.”

A total of 132 persons on the list of registered suspects of the Police Narcotic Bureau and the Special Bureau have been arrested during this 24-hour mission.

Commenting on the arrests, Nawaratne said: “They had this information before. The question is, why didn’t they take any steps thus far and wait until the acting IGP was appointed?”

Following its commencement on 17 December, the ‘Yukthiya’ operation has resulted in more than 11,500 arrests, with 1,676 of arrests being made during a 24-hour mission between 12.30 a.m. on 22 December and 12.30 a.m. on 23 December. 

Meanwhile, 119 of the arrests during this period are being further investigated based on detention orders, while 45 are being investigated for illegal assets. In addition, 112 drug addicts have been sent to rehabilitation centres.