Yukthiya (eradication campaign)
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Yukthiya (Sinhala: යුක්තිය, "justice"),[1] also reported as Operation Yukthiya, was a national anti-narcotics and anti-organised-crime operation in Sri Lanka, conducted by the Sri Lanka Police with support from the Sri Lanka Army and the Police Special Task Force (STF). It was launched on 17 December 2023 on the directive of Public Security Minister Tiran Alles and led by the acting Inspector General of Police, Deshabandu Tennakoon.[2] Police described its aim as dismantling drug-trafficking networks and the criminal underworld, working from intelligence lists of named suspects distributed to the country's police divisions.[2][3]
The operation produced mass arrests: more than 2,100 people were held in its first 24 hours, more than 38,000 in its first month and 111,074 by May 2024.[4][3][5] Cannabis figured in its seizures from the first day. Police figures for the first month included 655 kg of ganja and 2.92 million ganja plants destroyed.[4][3] The operation drew criticism from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, United Nations human rights experts and a coalition of 33 international organisations over arbitrary arrests, warrantless searches, degrading treatment and compulsory military-run drug rehabilitation.[1][6][7] A second phase was announced in July 2024. The operation continued past the September 2024 change of government; by February 2026 the government was conducting its national anti-drug campaign under the name A Nation United.[8][9][10]
Launch
Raids began across the island on Sunday 17 December 2023, announced by police the day before.[2][9] The operation was a concept of Public Security Minister Tiran Alles, who had set the police a deadline of 30 June 2024 to deliver what the Daily FT reported as "comprehensive changes" on drugs and underworld activity. It was spearheaded by Deshabandu Tennakoon, then newly appointed as acting Inspector General of Police.[2][11] Tennakoon told media that the raids were planned around identified distributors: "The focus is not on nabbing illicit drug users but those involved in drug trafficking rings." Drug users found during searches would nonetheless be taken into custody, with rehabilitation pursued through community policing networks.[2]
The launch mobilised the police together with the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB), the STF and the army, with an initial deployment reported as 200 army personnel, 200 police officers and 50 STF members; raids were organised through all 607 police stations.[4][2] Before the launch a list of 4,294 identified drug traffickers compiled by the Special Investigation Bureau and the PNB had been distributed to the senior superintendents in charge of 45 police divisions.[3] The first night's raids centred on housing schemes at Wellampitiya in Colombo and Modarawila in Panadura and yielded 83 arrests, with heroin, Kerala cannabis and crystal methamphetamine among the seizures; a 24-hour informant desk was established at police headquarters with anonymity guaranteed for callers.[2]
In its first 24 hours the operation recorded 2,121 arrests (2,020 men and 101 women), 12 detention orders and 133 referrals to drug rehabilitation, with ganja the dominant drug seized at 178 kg. Arrests were concentrated in Western Province. Among those held were 116 of the 3,340 suspects then listed in Police Special Branch and PNB databases.[4]
Conduct and scale
The operation ran as a rolling series of island-wide sweeps, with the Ministry of Public Security issuing daily arrest and seizure figures. Typical 24-hour reports logged between several hundred and more than 1,500 arrests: 1,554 people were arrested in the 24 hours to 30 December 2023, 1,184 in the 24 hours to 5 January 2024 and 703 in the 24 hours to 2 February 2024.[12][13][14] The daily reports tracked suspects against the Island Re-convicted Criminal lists held by the PNB and the STF and recorded detention orders, referrals to rehabilitation and illegal-asset investigations alongside the arrest totals.[12][13]
By 23 December police reported more than 12,000 arrests, 636 people held under detention orders, 998 referrals to rehabilitation and the seizure of assets valued at about Rs 300 million, including vehicles, houses, commercial buildings and a multi-day fishing trawler attributed to drug traffickers.[11] The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka noted a reported 20,000 arrests in the operation's first two weeks.[1] By 9 January 2024 the total exceeded 29,000, with around 1,500 people in administrative detention for investigation and at least 1,600 sent to compulsory drug rehabilitation.[6] Detention orders were issued for suspected offences under section 54A of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance No. 43 of 1935, a non-bailable offence.[6]
At a briefing marking one month, Tennakoon reported 38,529 raids and 38,525 arrests, with detention orders against 1,703 suspects; most of those arrested had been released on bail, with about 5,000 estimated to remain in custody. Police put seizures for the month at 72 kg of heroin, 206 kg of crystal methamphetamine, 948 g of cocaine, 655 kg of ganja, 2.92 million ganja plants, 136 kg of "mawa" and 36 kg of hashish, together valued at nearly Rs 4.7 billion. Police stated that 1,493 of the 4,294 listed traffickers (65%) had been arrested. Tennakoon claimed the street price of a packet of drugs had risen from Rs 1,000–1,500 to Rs 6,000–7,000 in some provinces. Alles said crime across the country had fallen 17% during the month, adding that the 30 June date was not a fixed deadline.[3]
A second phase was announced on 4 July 2024, commencing in areas around Colombo with island-wide expansion announced to follow.[8] Announcing it, Alles and Tennakoon stated that drugs worth Rs 19,075 million had been recovered since the operation began, that steps would be taken to confiscate assets worth Rs 1,425 million and that 5,449 of 5,978 identified traffickers had been arrested and held under detention orders, with 3,766 people sent to rehabilitation centres; Tennakoon said there were 500,000 drug addicts in the country.[15] Amnesty International recorded 111,074 arrests between December 2023 and May 2024. Under the second phase, police reported 776 arrests in 780 raids on 6 August 2024 alone.[5][16]
Cannabis enforcement
The operation's cannabis seizures combined herbal ganja with uprooted plants. The 24-hour report to 30 December 2023 listed 6.3 kg of cannabis and 4,104 cannabis plants; the report to 5 January 2024 listed 6.6 kg of cannabis, 7,772 plants and 1.2 kg of "Kush" alongside heroin and crystal methamphetamine; the report to 2 February 2024 listed 3.1 kg of cannabis.[12][13][14] The one-month police figures put ganja at 655 kg and ganja plants destroyed at 2.92 million, against 72 kg of heroin; the operation's stated targeting remained trafficking networks across all substances.[3][2]
In the north the operation reached the Jaffna trade in Kerala ganja. Kerala cannabis appeared among the first night's seizures. In a pre-dawn raid on 2 January 2024, Jaffna police took 500 g of Kerala ganja, 100 g of heroin and narcotic pills from a house in Kondavil, arresting one suspect.[2][17]
The campaign also covered cultivation inside Yala National Park. In February 2024 the Sunday Times reported an environmental activist's estimate of 50 to 60 cannabis plantations still operating in the park, with illegal activity concentrated in blocks closed to safari tours; a wildlife officer placed most cultivation in block 3, inaccessible to the police, the STF and the wildlife department. Lunugamwehera and Tissamaharama police reported 13 and six raids respectively on park cultivations over the preceding months, burning plantings where no suspects could be caught. Police spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa said the STF was using drones to detect cannabis cultivations within the park under the Yukthiya campaign. The same reporting linked cannabis growing to poaching and snare-setting inside the park and to a reduction in armed wildlife patrols after three wildlife officers were arrested over the shooting of a poacher in November 2023.[18]
Criticism
Domestic criticism began within the operation's first fortnight. Ambika Satkunanathan, a former commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, noted that police statistics showed only 7.7 kg of heroin seized in the first five days against more than 10,000 arrests, argued that the operation was reaching street-level users and small sellers rather than traffickers and described its concentration on poor neighbourhoods as the "criminalization of poverty". The Sunday Times reported accusations that the operation served as a media spectacle deflecting from controversies then surrounding its two principals: Tennakoon had been named by the Supreme Court that month over the torture of a detainee in 2010; Alles had been named in the Pandora Papers.[11]
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka stated in January 2024 that it had received complaints of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention connected to the operation, noted the serious concerns raised by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and wrote that the operation had "become associated with reports of widespread injustice, making its very title 'Yukthiya' (the Sinhala term for 'justice') a misnomer".[1]
On 15 January 2024 a joint statement signed by 33 organisations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and Harm Reduction International, called on the government to cease the operation immediately and release those arrested without evidence. It documented arbitrary arrests falling primarily on marginalised communities, searches without warrants, strip searches in public, cavity searches, televised arrests and arrests based solely on past drug records. The statement criticised compulsory rehabilitation in centres run by the military and noted that Sri Lanka's prisons were already at nearly 200% occupancy, with 63% of convicted prisoners in 2022 held for drug offences.[6] A week later United Nations experts, among them the OHCHR Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the special rapporteurs on the independence of judges and lawyers and on the right to health, called for the operation's immediate suspension and review. "Drug users have human rights," the experts said. "They deserve to live a life with dignity without facing further discrimination and stigmatisation." They deplored the detention of hundreds in compulsory military-run rehabilitation centres, reported torture and ill-treatment and urged an end to the involvement of the armed forces in drug control and treatment.[7]
Alles dismissed local and international criticism at the one-month briefing, asserting widespread public support,[3] and in July 2024 said the operation had been planned while Tennakoon was a deputy inspector general and would not be pulled back despite threats he said he and his family had received.[15]
Continuation and succession
Following the September 2024 change of government, the acting Inspector General of Police, Priyantha Weerasuriya, announced that the operation would continue "strongly and better" under the new administration: "While Yukthiya was the name given to the operation, we will continue it in the same manner as before."[9] The following day Lanka News Web reported that an internal police headquarters review had found the operation fell short of its objectives, producing no marked increase in drug-related arrests over previous years, that many of those arrested were former offenders or users rather than active traffickers, that drugs seized by the Sri Lanka Navy offshore had been folded into Yukthiya's totals and that officers diverted to the operation had been returned to routine duties, while police headquarters affirmed that structured anti-drug work would continue.[19] Amnesty International's annual report for 2024 recorded that the second phase had proceeded despite the calls for cessation from the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and United Nations experts.[5]
By February 2026 the government's national campaign against drugs was A Nation United, launched under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake with awareness, network-dismantling, rehabilitation and asset-seizure strands; it reported more than 91,000 arrests at its Central Province launch event, whose President's Media Division account makes no reference to Yukthiya.[10] Sri Lankan cannabis enforcement recorded from 2026 onwards is covered at Sri Lanka eradication campaigns (2026).
Map
Timeline
| Date | Category | Event | Province | Locality | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| News:2024-02-25/Enforcement/parts-of-yala-at-risk-from-illicit-ganja-growers-poachers-and-bushmeat-trade | Enforcement | Parts of Yala at risk from illicit ganja growers, poachers, and bushmeat trade | Southern Province | Yala National Park | |
| News:2024-01-02/Enforcement/yukthiya-operation-nets-822-arrests-seizes-drugs-in-24-hour-blitz | Enforcement | Yukthiya operation nets 822 arrests, seizes drugs in 24-hour blitz | |||
| News:2023-12-18/Enforcement/operation-yukthiya-over-2-100-arrests-in-24-hours | Enforcement | Operation Yukthiya: Over 2,100 arrests in 24 hours |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "The 'Yukthiya' Operation – Press Notice No: HRC/P/i/E/08/01/24". Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. 9 January 2024.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "Police commence operation 'Yukthiya' to eradicate drugs and underworld". Daily FT. 18 December 2023.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Jayawardana, S. (21 January 2024). "One month into 'Yukthiya', authorities hail it as a success". The Sunday Times. Colombo.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Farzan, Z. (18 December 2023). "Operation Yukthiya: Over 2,100 arrests in 24 hours". News 1st.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Amnesty International (2025). The State of the World's Human Rights: April 2025 (Report). Sri Lanka entry.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Sri Lanka: Stop Abusive Anti-Drug Operation and Release Those Arbitrarily Detained". Human Rights Watch. 15 January 2024.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "UN experts call on Sri Lanka to immediately suspend and review 'Yukthiya' anti-drug operation". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 22 January 2024. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Sri Lanka Police launch second phase of operation 'Yukthiya'". Ada Derana. 4 July 2024.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Sri Lanka's controversial 'Operation Yukthiya' to continue under Dissanayake". Tamil Guardian. 30 September 2024.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "'A Nation United' national campaign: 91,000 Held in Crackdown on Drug Trafficking". Newswire. 11 February 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Jayawardana, S. (31 December 2023). "Police justify op. Yukthiya, critics call it theatrics". The Sunday Times. Colombo.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Andrew, M. (30 December 2023). "Over 1,500 suspects arrested under operation Yukthiya, in 24 hours". The Morning.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Andrew, M. (5 January 2024). "1,184 suspects arrested during 'Yukthiya' operation". The Morning.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "'Yukthiya' operation: 703 more suspects arrested within 24 hours". Ada Derana. 2 February 2024.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Perera, Y.; Fernandopulle, S. (4 July 2024). "Drugs worth more than Rs 19 billion recovered as a result of Yukthiya". Daily Mirror. Colombo.
- ↑ "Police arrests 776 suspects through 'Yukthiya' operation". The Morning. 7 August 2024.
- ↑ Farzan, Z. (2 January 2024). "Yukthiya Operation Nets 822 Arrests, Seizes Drugs in 24-Hour Blitz". News 1st.
- ↑ Warakapitiya, K. (25 February 2024). "Parts of Yala at risk from illicit ganja growers, poachers, and bushmeat trade". The Sunday Times. Colombo.
- ↑ "'Yukthiya' only a media show? Police HQ says Operation failed to meet key objectives". Lanka News Web. 1 October 2024.