When politics meets drug trade: Sri Lanka Customs under fire

THE Middeniya-Thalawa chemical haul shows how deeply narcotics have penetrated our borders. Unless Sri Lanka Customs comes clean on red-flagged containers, public trust is bound to collapse.

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The recent seizure of 50,000 kilograms of precursor chemicals in Middeniya—Thalawa is not simply a policing triumph—it is a stark warning.

Chemicals of this scale cannot move into the country unless Sri Lanka Customs, our frontline border agency, has failed in its duty of care.

Allegations of political links make the scandal even graver. One chief suspect, a former SLPP local politician, is accused of transporting enough chemicals to produce 200 kilograms of methamphetamine (“ice”) worth over Rs. 2 billion. This raises a disturbing question: how did such consignments bypass Sri Lanka Customs’ controls in the first place?

The red-flagged container scandal

This latest case cannot be separated from the unresolved scandal of the “red-flagged containers.” Reports tabled in Parliament revealed that, in 2024-25, hundreds of high-risk “red” containers—and over 2,200 red and amber consignments in total—were released without mandatory scanning or inspection.