Author name: Tharindu Withanage

Based on a piece of information received, a team of officers from the Police Station Galle Harbour conducted a raid near the Fishery Harbour in the Galle Harbour Police Area on 30.07.2025, and arrested a suspect, along with a pistol manufactured in a foreign country, five (05) 09 mm bullets, two other persons who had arrived with the said suspect, and a motor vehicle.  The 45, 54 and 56-year-old suspects are residents of China Bay and Dodanduwa areas. The Galle Harbour Police are conducting further investigations into the suspects and the firearm.  

The individual who attempted to kill a person by shooting in Wanathamulla of Borella Police Area on 24.06.2025 was arrested by the Special Operations Unit of the Police Special Task Force on the evening of 23.07.2025 in Kidula of Ambalantota Police Area. Based on a piece of information, three suspects, who were in possession of 13 grams and 90 milligrams of narcotic ice, 11 grams and 60 milligrams of narcotic ice, and 12 grams of narcotic ice respectively, were arrested during a raid in Kidula. When they were produced to the Ambalantota Police Station, it was revealed that one of them was the suspected shooter, and that the other two suspects had aided and abetted the act. The Ambalantota Police Station is conducting investigations into the three suspects and the criminal network to which they are connected.  

The incident – Police Constable 85717 Nandana Padmasiri, attached to the Lunugala Police Station, who was on his way to Badulla for sports training, on the morning of 23.07.2025, had seen a handbag lying on the road near the 13th mile post on the Passara–Badulla road.   He took action to inspect the bag, since it was irresponsible to ignore such a suspicious situation as a police officer, and he had discovered a bundle of currency amounting to One Hundred Seventy Thousand Seven Hundred Eighty Rupees in the bag. Having assumed that the bag might belong to a teacher, based on the documents found inside, he may have understood the reason for a teacher to keep such an amount of money in her bag.   After the bag was handed over without delay to the Officer in Charge of the Passara Police Station, which is the nearest police station, as the most appropriate course of action, and after the Officer in Charge had confirmed within a short period of time that the rightful owner of the bag was a teacher at the Passara Central College, steps have been taken to duly return the bag to her.   “She must have been in tremendous stress when she realised that the money, which was carried for depositing for purchasing question papers for the students, was lost on the way.    If it was not for Police Constable Nandana Padmasiri, it would have been an extremely difficult task for her to find the said amount, which is a large amount compared to her salary.”   This good deed performed by Officer Nandana as a law-abiding citizen is truly commendable, irrespective of the fact that he is a police officer.  

A group of three people, including a woman, that steals three-wheelers after smearing chilli powder on the eyes of the driver while pretending to travel as a group of three people carrying a child was arrested by the Mount Lavinia Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau on the morning of 21.07.2025 at the Polgasowita area of the Kahathuduwa Police Area. The two male suspects were first arrested and were found to be in possession of 6700 milligrams of heroin and 5300 milligrams of heroin. During interrogation, it was revealed that they had stolen three-wheelers and property in the Kahathuduwa, Boralesgamuwa, and Moragahahena areas. Later on, the woman, identified as the wife of one of the suspects, who had been involved in these crimes with nearly a one-year-old child, was also arrested. The two 24 and 27-yerar-old male suspects are residents of Kalawana and Kahathuduwa areas. The 29-year-old female suspect is a resident of Kahathuduwa area. The officers have been able to recover 04 stolen three-wheelers and the Mount Lavinia Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau has initiated further investigations into other crimes committed by these individuals.  

On a police intelligence tip-off, a team of officers from the Kiribathgoda Police Station stopped a three-wheeler near the new road in the Kiribathgoda Police area on the evening of 21.07.2025 and inspected it. The person behind the three-wheeler was found to be in possession of a T-56 firearm, a loaded ammunition magazine, and 05 grams and 560 milligrams of narcotic Ice.         This firearm has been revealed to be a firearm used in a shooting in the Bloemendal area and was seized while being re-transported. The suspect is a 30-year-old resident of Vavuniya.    

Based on a piece of information received by the officers of the Homicide and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau of the Criminal Investigation Department, a suspect was arrested on 21 – 07 – 2025 at Weluwana Road in Dematagoda Police Area for the possession a foreign-made pistol with 12 bullets. Subsequently, another suspect was arrested for aiding and abetting in Kollupitiya Police Area for the act of keeping said firearm in possession. Those suspects, who are at the age of 24 and 42 years, are residents of Dematagoda area. The Homicide and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau conducts further investigations in connection with the suspects and the firearm.

Further investigations were conducted by the Kiribathgoda Police Station regarding a suspect who was arrested with a T-56 firearm, a magazine with 30 rounds of ammunition, and the narcotic ice in the New Road of the Kiribathgoda Police area on the evening of 21.07.2025. Investigations conducted into the suspect have revealed that the above suspect had brought this firearm from Vavuniya to the Colombo area and had planned to hand over this firearm to another party and subsequently taken it back to Vavuniya after committing the crime. Based on the information revealed by the suspect, another suspect who has close contacts with the said suspect was arrested on 22.07.2025 while transporting 10 grams of narcotic ice in a three-wheeler in the Neriyakulam area of the Cheddikulam Police area, by a group of officers of the Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau, Vavuniya The suspect is a 22-year-old resident of the Neriyakulam area. Based on the information uncovered from the above suspect, the police have seized 86 different types of hand grenades, 321 rounds of T-56 live ammunition, 3 rounds of sidearm ammunition, and 5600 narcotic tablets hidden in the garden and house of the suspect. Further investigations regarding the arrested suspects above will be conducted by the Terrorist Investigation Division.