Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa vowed to send in troops from the notorious Special Task Force if tea plantations continued to produce “garbage tea”, in a warning to factory owners on the island.
Speaking to factory owners last week, the war crimes accused head of state said there had been reports of “instances of adulterating the quality tea by mixing sugar, glucose, sodium bicarbonate and ferrous sulphate”.
“Based on intelligence information the Special Task Force of the Police and the Police raid tea factories which produce garbage tea and using harmful chemical components,” the Sri Lankan president reportedly warned.
“Production of low-quality tea will not be allowed,” he continued vowing to unleash the police and intelligence services on factory owners.
The latest announcement from Rajapaksa comes as the role of the Sri Lankan military continues to openly expand across the island. For over a decade now the Sri Lankan armed forces have been involved in civilian activities in the military-occupied North-East. Under Rajapaksa that role has grown, with military officials and accused war criminals now occupying senior government posts.
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