Cabinet backs a new organised-crime law – but the move raises an uncomfortable question about why extraordinary anti-terror powers were being used against ordinary criminals
The Government’s decision to introduce dedicated legislation to combat organised crime may finally provide Sri Lanka with a legal framework designed specifically for the increasingly sophisticated criminal networks operating across the country.
It also raises a question the Government should not avoid. If Sri Lanka now needs a specific law to deal with organised crime, why have powers created to combat terrorism been used against suspects accused principally of organised criminal activity?
Cabinet has approved the Prevention of Organised Crime Bill, intended to provide law-enforcement agencies with stronger and more clearly defined powers to investigate and prosecute organised criminal activity. The proposed legislation comes amid an intensified campaign against narcotics networks, contract killings, illegal firearms and criminal organisations whose operations frequently extend overseas.
Sri Lanka unquestionably has a serious organised-crime problem. Drug trafficking networks have become increasingly sophisticated, criminal groups operate across borders and investigators regularly encounter suspects, financiers and organisers outside the country.
The State therefore has both the right and the responsibility to equip the Police and prosecutors with laws capable of confronting those networks.
But the distinction between organised crime and terrorism is not semantic.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act gives the State exceptional powers precisely because terrorism was regarded as an exceptional threat. Those powers have long attracted criticism over extended detention, safeguards for suspects and the possibility of abuse.
Using extraordinary legislation against conduct that can properly be investigated and prosecuted under ordinary criminal law inevitably expands the reach of those extraordinary powers.
The Government’s new legislation therefore presents an opportunity extending beyond the battle against the underworld. It offers Sri Lanka an opportunity to restore clarity to the boundaries of criminal law.
A drug trafficker is a drug trafficker. A contract killer is a murderer. A criminal gang is an organised-crime network. None becomes a terrorist merely because investigators believe ordinary criminal procedures are inconvenient.
That does not mean organised criminals should receive softer treatment. It means they should face tough laws specifically written for the crimes they are accused of committing, accompanied by the safeguards expected in a functioning criminal-justice system.
The Government must also ensure that the new law does not simply reproduce the most controversial features of the PTA under another name. Greater investigative powers should be accompanied by meaningful judicial supervision, clearly defined offences and protection against indefinite or arbitrary detention.
Sri Lanka has spent decades debating whether extraordinary security legislation has been stretched beyond its original purpose.
A properly drafted organised-crime law could help end that argument.
The objective should be simple: give the State every legitimate weapon it needs to destroy organised criminal networks while ensuring that the law continues to distinguish between a gangster and a terrorist.
That distinction protects more than the accused. It protects the integrity of the law itself.
