Author name: Tharindu Withanage

A 16-year-old boy, a resident of the Havenpola area, was attacked by a group of children of his age in the Havenpola area of Welagedara on 16.04.2025. He sustained serious injuries and died on 22.04.2025 while receiving treatment at the Kurunegala Hospital. It was reported that a motorcycle helmet was also used in the attack. Officers from the Mawathagama Police Station, who conducted investigations to find the group of suspects, arrested 11 suspects in the Arepola Kanda area of Welagedara on the night of 22.04.2025. All of them are residents of Arepola Kanda and Ambakote areas, aged between 15 and 18. Information has emerged that the murder was committed due to a personal dispute. Further investigations are underway at the Mawathagama and Welagedara police stations to find all suspects involved in the crime.   

A foreign-manufactured firearm with an empty magazine was found at a house in the Asgiriya area of a 24-year-old suspect out of the six suspects who were arrested in possession of 02 T-56 rifles, 118 T-56 bullets, and 03 magazines. The six individuals arrested by officers of the Police Special Task Force Headquarters at a house in the Wattumulla area of Gampaha on 19.04.2025 are currently in the custody of the Colombo Crimes Division, and the respective weapon was found on 20.04.2025 during investigations carried out by the Colombo Crimes Division.

No one was allowed either to take a photograph of the Sacred Tooth Relic or to keep their mobile phones active when they approach towards the sight of exposition of the Sacred Tooth Relic. However, a photograph purporting to be the Sacred Tooth Relic taken during the exposition of the Tooth Relic has been circulated on social media. As per the instructions of the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Priyantha Weerasooriya (Attorney-at-Law), the Criminal Investigation Department has initiated an investigation to determine whether this photograph was actually taken recently or was an edited photograph. Further, the investigation is carried out to identify the person who took the photograph or edited and posted it on social media.

A team of officers of the Police Special Task Force Headquarters was able to arrest six individuals staying in a house in Wathumulla, Gampaha, who were in possession of 02 T-56 firearms, 118 T-56 bullets and 03 magazines, along with a car, a van and a three-wheeler parked there on 19.04.2025. The raid was conducted based on a tip-off, and two more individuals have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a crime based on a piece of information revealed by the arrested suspects. Furthermore, a suspect who was trying to maintain coordination between them was arrested on the same day along with 04 mobile phones by the officers of the Police Special Task Force Kurunegala. Out of these nine suspects, eight individuals are 22, 24, 25, and 26-year-olds.Only one suspect is 57 years old. Four of them are individuals who have joined and left military service. All of them have been produced to the Colombo Crimes Division, and according to the information revealed there, they were planning to shoot and kill a person as per the directions of a criminal gang member living abroad. Further investigations will be carried out by the Colombo Crimes Division after detaining these suspects.              

Three women, residents of Wellampitiya and Maligawatta areas, who had arrived by air smuggling 05 kilograms and 248 grams of drug Kush to the country, were arrested by officers of the Police Narcotics Bureau attached to Airport Unit, on 18-04-2025, at the airport arrival terminal. The suspects had taken measures to conceal the relevant drug lot in their luggage, weighing 01 kilogram 104 grams, 01 kilogram 856 grams and 02 kilogram 288 grams. Further investigations are conducted by the Police Narcotics Bureau regarding these suspects, who are at the age 25, 48 and 50.

Several taxi drivers had recently lodged complaints with the Wellawatte and Maradana police stations in Colombo regarding a man who had entered a taxi, claiming to need a ride, and then stole their mobile phone before fleeing. The officers, including the OIC of the Crime Division of the Fort Police Station, IP Rohana, who conducted the investigation, arrested the suspect on 11.04.2025 and obtained a 6-day detention order. During further investigations, it was revealed that he is a prime suspect in other crimes in addition to stealing mobile phones. Among them are the theft of Rs. 150,000/= by entering a house in Wellawatte under the pretext of wanting to rent a house, the theft of an ATM card which has been reported to the Wellawatte Police Station, and the theft of money while on a rental car trip. The Fort Police Station is conducting further investigations with regard to the suspect.  

During raids carried out in the areas of Negombo, Kaluwapitiya and Gangodella Road on the morning of 19.04.2025, officers of the Western Province North Crime Division have arrested two suspects with 122 kilograms and 970 grams of Kerala cannabis and an amount of Rs. 961,000 in cash suspected to have been earned from smuggling of Kerala cannabis. They are aged 25 and 48 years and have been identified as residents of the Pitipana area in Negombo. Further investigations regarding them are carried out by the Western Province North Crime Division.

50 live cartridges used for the T-56 firearm and a sharp weapon that could be used for a certain crime have been taken into custody of the Athurugiriya Police Station on 17.04.2025. These cartridges and the weapon have been recovered based on information revealed during investigations carried out on a suspect detained under a detention order who was arrested with 11 grams and 100 milligrams of the ice narcotic by the officers at the Athurugiriya Police Station on 12.04.2025. Further investigations on the suspect, who is a 25-year-old resident of the Athurugiriya area, are carried out by the Athurugiriya Police Station.

During the ongoing crime and drug prevention operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Police island-wide, as instructed by the acting Inspector General of Police, officers from the Kirulapana Police Station inspected a three-wheeler near the Thunmodara junction-Kirulapana on the morning of 13.04.2025 and arrested two individuals who were behaving suspiciously. An amount of Rs 5,745,000 was found in the possession of these suspects, and according to the investigations carried out, it has been revealed that one of them is running a store which sells LP gas while engaged in illegal drug trafficking. Accordingly, further investigations have been initiated to uncover information regarding whether this money was earned from illegal drug trafficking or whether it was earned by running the store by arresting one suspect for money laundering and the other suspect for aiding and abetting money laundering. These suspects aged 49 and 39 are residents of Siddhartha Road, Kirulapana.

Five suspects, including the shooter, have been arrested in connection with the double homicide that has been committed in front of the gate of the Devinuwara Dewalaya in Gandara on the night of 21. 03. 2025. Based on information disclosed by a suspect detained under a detention order during interrogation by officers of the Homicides & Organised Crime Investigation Division, investigation officers were able to find a T-56 firearm and its magazine, suspected to have been used in the shooting, hidden in a house on Yatiyana Road, Kekanadura, on the morning of 12. 04. 2025 and also based on the information revealed, another T-56 type firearm, suspected to have been used in the crime, along with a magazine containing five live bullets, was found hidden in a house in the Gandara Delgalla area belonging to a suspect in custody on the evening of 12. 04. 2025, and was taken into police custody. Further investigations are underway to disclose information regarding any other crimes committed using these deadly firearms.