‘Luscious’ cannabis cultivation in Yala raided, over 93,000 plants destroyed

Rasika Somarathna

Sleuths raided a 25 acre cannabis cultivation inside the jungles of Yala National Park and destroyed 93,800 plants with an estimated street value of nearly Rs. 100 million.

They also took into custody 22 suspects in this connection. The detection is considered as one of the largest of its kinds in recent times.

An Excise officer who participated in the raid said the cultivation had been divided into 22 plots. At the time of the raid, it was on the verge of plucking with the height of the plants well over five feet. The cultivation also had been well maintained with the use of fertilizer, pesticides, weedicides etc. Pumps operated with the use of fuel had been used to pump water from a nearby water body.

The officers added that a 25 member team had to travel on foot for over 22 Km into the jungles braving bad weather, rugged terrain and animals to reach their destination after receiving information from civilians.

The suspects are to be produced in Courts.

The raid had been carried out according to information received by Excise Commissioner General D.G.M.V. Hapuarachchi and Assistant Excise Commissioner A. Bodaragama. It had been carried out on the instructions of Southern Excise Chief B.A. Dayaratne, Tangalle Excise OIC Dheera Gunesekera and Special Operations OIC Wasantha Samarasinghe. Officers led by Jayantha de Silva, T. Mendis, S. Wettasinghe and Tennekoon participated.