Author name: Tharindu Withanage

A person who was transporting 247 kg 946 grams of cannabis in a car was arrested by the officers of Anti-Corruption Unit of Chilaw Police Station on the night of 25.02.2025 near 72/03 bridge in Chilaw, Merawala.   The luxury car which was driven from Merawala to Munneshavaram area was stopped and checked according to the information revealed. The cannabis was found in 114 parcels hidden in the back of the car. The suspect is a 36-year-old resident of Thimbilla, Sanghattana area.  Further investigations are being carried out by the officers of the Chilaw Police Station to find out the suspect and other suspects who have involved in this racket.    

A thirty-year-old individual who was transporting a stock of over 500,000 pills in a van was arrested in Negombo-Koppara Junction by a group of police officers of the Colombo Crime Division. Based on a piece of information unveiled, this raid was conducted on the night of 01.03.2025, forfeiting the opportunity of a certain party to earn high financial profit by distributing these pills among the youth for reasons such as intoxication. The suspect is a resident of the Mannar area. Further investigations are underway to find out the individuals who aided and abetted the suspect in ordering and transporting this stock of pills.  

Another suspect ,who aided and abetted the shooting of a motorcyclist and his two children near the Kadewatta junction on the Middeniya-Weeraketiya road on the night of 18.02.2025, has been arrested by the Tangalle Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau in the Weeraketiya Wakamulla area yesterday, 18.02.2025. Five suspects had been arrested in connection with the crime and this suspect, a 37-year-old resident of Hakuruwela, is the sixth suspect arrested in connection with the incident. Investigations conducted so far have revealed that this crime was carried out by an organized criminal living abroad and among the suspects arrested are a deserter from the army service and an officer who was engaged in police service. Although a video clip is currently circulating on social media claiming that the person who was shot dead in the Middeniya Police Area had received death threats, it has not been reported that he had lodged any complaints to the police stations regarding any death threats.  

Officers of Police Narcotics Bureau at Airport Unit and Customs Officers together with Police K-9, ‘Saara’, have conducted raid at the airport premises on 19-02-2025. During the raid, a 30-year-old Indian, who arrived to Sri Lanka, was arrested at the arrival terminal for keeping possession of 01 kg 330 grams of Kush. Saara constantly directed attention of the officers towards the luggage of the suspect. Consequently, the officers have taken measures to search the luggage and find the drugs which was carefully packed in four teddy bears.      

The Police Special Task Force was able to arrest the suspected gunman, who shot and killed organised criminal Ganemulla Sanjeewa and who was in disguise as a lawyer in the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court on the morning of 19.02.2025, in the Palaviya area of Puttalam the same evening. Preliminary investigations have revealed that this suspect has committed this murder in association with another woman. It was also revealed that this suspect had used several identity cards while appearing in several names. A fake lawyer’s identity card, which he had prepared for this crime, bearing the name Kodikarage Kasun Prabath Nissanka, has also been taken into custody by the investigating officers. The Colombo Crimes Division is conducting further investigations into this individual. Through these investigations, all information related to the crimes he was involved in, those who aided and abetted him in committing this crime, and this conspiracy is expected to be revealed. Using the CCTV footage installed in the Hon. Court, photographs of this person and the woman involved in this crime were identified, and the footage was forwarded to all police stations on the island. Steps were taken to first block the possibility of the suspect fleeing the country by sea and the possibility of going abroad through the airport. This person was then taken into custody after properly identifying the route taken by him using intelligence information. Investigations are also currently underway regarding the woman involved in this crime, and she will also be arrested in a short period of time.  

A 54-year-old suspect, who remained in a house in Heenatiyana, Katunayaka was arrested by the officers of the Colombo Crime Division on the afternoon of 17.02.2025 for the possession of, • 02 12-bore repeater type manufactured in a foreign country and 20 live ammunition of the said firearm • 02 blank magazines • A pistol type firearm manufactured in a foreign country  • 47 – 9mm live ammunition  • 02 blank magazines of the said type. The raid was conducted based on a piece of information uncovered by the Colombo Crime Division and a vehicle number plate, an insurance card, and 03 firearm license renewal receipts were also taken into police custody from the relevant house. The Colombo Crimes Division has initiated further investigations into the suspect, the firearms and the receipts.