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India police say rats ate 200kg of seized cannabis

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Police in India have blamed rats for destroying nearly 200kg (440lbs) of cannabis seized from pedlars and kept in police stations.

“Rats are tiny animals and they have no fear of the police. It’s difficult to protect the drug from them,” a court in Uttar Pradesh state has said.

The court had asked the police to produce the stash as evidence in cases of drug peddling.

The judge cited three cases in which marijuana was destroyed by rodents.

Judge Sanjay Chaudhary said in an order that when the court asked the police to produce the seized drug as evidence, it was told that 195kg of cannabis had been “destroyed” by rats.

In another case involving 386kg of the drug, the police filed a report saying “some” of the cannabis was “eaten up by the rats”.

Judge Chaudhary said some 700kg of marijuana seized by the police was lying in police stations in Mathura district and that “all of it was under danger of infestation by rats”.

He said the police had no expertise in dealing with the matter as the rats were “too small”. The only way to protect the seized goods from “such fearless mice”, he added, was to auction the drugs to research labs and medicine firms, with the proceeds going to the government.

MP Singh, a senior police official of Mathura district, told reporters that some of the marijuana stored in police stations under his vicinity had been “damaged due to heavy rains” and not destroyed by rats.

In 2018, eight Argentinian police officers were fired after they blamed mice for the disappearance of half a ton of cannabis from a police warehouse. But experts disputed the claim, saying that the animals were unlikely to confuse the drug for food and “if a large group of mice had eaten it, a lot of corpses would have been found in the warehouse”.

A study published in 2019 found that when laboratory rats were given cannabis-laced dough, they “tended to become less active and their body temperature also was lowered”.

In 2017, police in the eastern state of Bihar had blamed rats for consuming thousands of litres of confiscated alcohol, a year after the state banned the sale and consumption of alcohol.

In 2018, technicians who arrived to fix a malfunctioning cash machine in the state of Assam found that currency notes worth more than 1.2m rupees ($14,691; £12,143) had been shredded – and the suspected culprits were rats.

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First capacity-building program under NCGG – SLIDA MoU concludes successfully

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A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Centre for Good Governance of India (NCGG) and Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) was signed during the State Visit of President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Anura Kumara Disanayaka to India in December 2024 for training and capacity building of 1500 Sri Lankan civil service officers over a period of five years.

The first program under the MoU was successfully held at NCGG from 21 April to 02 May 2025, and was attended by 41 officers. Based on the request of the Government of Sri Lanka, the theme of the program was ‘digitization in governance’. The program featured a series of sessions focused on key areas such as digital service delivery, digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion through digital payments, and innovations in public grievance redressal systems. Senior officials and domain experts delivered presentations on flagship Indian initiatives in the digital domain, including Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, e-Office, GeM, Aadhaar, PM Gati Shakti, among others.

At an interaction session with participants in the inaugural program organized on 08 May 2025 at SLIDA, the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, H.E. Santosh Jha underscored that capacity building is an important pillar of the development cooperation between the two countries, with Sri Lanka being among the largest recipients of scholarships and capacity building initiatives offered by India. He highlighted that, demonstrating India’s continued commitment to enhancing capacity-building opportunities for Sri Lankans, Prime Minister of India had announced additional training avenues to 700 Sri Lankan citizens annually during his recent State visit. In that context, the High Commissioner said that the participants in the first NCGG-SLIDA programme also represented the first set of Sri Lankan nationals to receive training as part of the significantly enhanced capacity-building endeavour of India that will now benefit 1000 Sri Lankans annually.

The interaction session was also attended by Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Mr S. Aloka Bandara; Director General of SLIDA, Mr A.V. Janadara; senior officials and faculty members of SLIDA; among others.

In view of the highly positive feedback from the participants in the inaugural NCGG-SLIDA program, based on request from SLIDA, a second program on the same theme under the MoU is now being planned for another batch of around 40 officers for early June 2025.

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Bell 212 helicopter crash : Death toll rises to 06 (Update)

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Another Special Forces (SF) soldier who was onboard the SLAF Bell 212 helicopter that crashed into the Maduru Oya Reservoir this morning (May 09) has succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment at the hospital.

This brings the death toll from the fatal accident to six.

Six other armed forces personnel, who sustained injuries in the incident, are currently receiving treatment at the hospital.


(Previous news 2025 May 09 – 11.31.a.m.)

5 dead in Bell 212 crash

Five military personnel have been confirmed dead in the crash of a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Bell 212 helicopter into the Maduru Oya Reservoir earlier this morning (May 09.
According to the SLAF Spokesperson Group Captain Eranda Geeganage, the deceased include three members of the Sri Lanka Army’s Special Forces and two Air Force personnel.

The aircraft was carrying a total of 12 individuals, including six Army Special Forces members, two Air Force Regiment Special Forces personnel, two other Air Force members, and two pilots.

(Video : Accident 1st)

මාදුරුඔය පීරා බෙල් 212 සොයන මෙහෙයුම… #Accident1st #bell212 #Helicopter #crashe #MaduruOya

Posted by Accident 1st on Thursday, May 8, 2025

(Previous news 2025 May 09 – 9.57.a.m.)

SLAF helicopter crashes into Maduru Oya during training session

A Bell 212 helicopter belonging to the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has reportedly crashed today (May 09) into the Maduru Oya Reservoir.

The incident occurred during a training exercise held as part of the Sri Lanka Army Special Forces passing-out ceremony in Maduru Oya.

The aircraft was carrying ten Special Forces soldiers and two pilots at the time of the incident.

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LG Polls: EC sets deadline to submit campaign finance reports

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The Election Commission has instructed all candidates who contested the 2925 Local Government (LG) Elections to submit their campaign income and expenditure reports on or before May 28.

A statement by the Commission emphasized that candidates are required to prepare and submit their financial disclosures in line with the provisions of the Election Expenditure Regulation Act No. 03 of 2023. These reports must be handed over to the Returning Officers of the respective electoral districts.

Election Commissioner General Saman Sri Ratnayake stated that this process is part of the Commission’s efforts to ensure transparency and accountability in the electoral process.

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