Drug dealers, fundamentalist groups taking advantage of economic crisis, says Advisor to Sri Lanka President

Apr 16, 2022

Colombo (Sri Lanka), April 16 (ANI): Amid protests in Sri Lanka over the country's worst economic crisis, an advisor to the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on April 16, said the government has tried to control drug dealers "who have a lot of money" and that they are "very angry". In an interview with ANI, Walpole Piyananda, Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on International Religious Affairs also said that "fundamental Leftist groups" were also working against the government and sections of the minority community in the country "were angry" with the government. He indicated that ongoing protests against the Sri Lankan government in which demands are being made for Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation were also a result of "fundamentalist groups taking advantages right now, especially drug dealers." "Drug dealers are hanging around... this government tried to control (it), many of them (have been) caught. They are very angry with the government. They have a lot of money," he said. He said that the Catholic Church has a "misunderstanding" with the government and that the Muslims are "angry" with the government due to the government's move to "reclaim" some of the Buddhist temples in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka that were "taken over".