Sri Lanka, April 13 -- A total of 1,320 individuals have been arrested so far in island-wide raids conducted by the Excise Department during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year festive season.

The Excise Department reported that the arrests took place during operations carried out from April 3 to April 12.

During these raids, the department had also taken steps to shut down three excise-licensed premises that were found selling alcohol in violation of excise regulations.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Ada Derana....