2026-02-19 / Debate (Continued): Judicature (Amendment) Bill and Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill - Committee and Third Reading 2026-02-19
## Summary
The Minister of Justice and National Integration, Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, moved three technical amendments to a bill concerning drug offences at sea. The first amendment revises provisions on page 1 to clarify that persons aboard Sri Lankan-registered or foreign ships on the high seas who are involved in the production of specified dangerous drugs — heroin, cocaine, morphine, or opium — are guilty of an offence punishable by death or life imprisonment upon High Court conviction, and extends jurisdiction to Sri Lankan citizens aboard any such vessel. The second amendment refines language on possession to specify that the offence applies where quantities exceed a specified threshold or where possession is for trafficking purposes. The third amendment introduces a definition of "high seas" consistent with international law, explicitly encompassing all waters beyond the territorial sea of Sri Lanka or any other State, without prejudicing the legal status of the exclusive economic zone.
Hon. Presiding Member, I move the following amendments:
1) Page 1, lines 13 to 16: delete and substitute the following:
“Where any person, being on board a ship registered in Sri Lanka or a foreign ship, on the high seas, during the production of any of the following dangerous drugs, namely heroin, cocaine, morphine or opium, such person shall be guilty of an offence and, upon conviction by the High Court, shall be liable to the punishment of death or to imprisonment for life.”
Further, where a citizen of Sri Lanka or any other person—
(a) being on board a ship registered in Sri Lanka or a foreign ship …
2) Page 2, lines 4 and 5: delete and substitute the following:
“kept in possession in excess of the specified quantity or for the purpose of trafficking”
3) Page 2, lines 18 to 21: delete and substitute the following:
“‘high seas’ means, without prejudice to the legal status of the exclusive economic zone under international law, all waters beyond the territorial sea of Sri Lanka or of any other State.”