Police News

Investigations have been initiated regarding the smuggling of a stock of narcotics into the country by a fishing vessel on 31.10.2024, on the instructions of the Director of the Police Narcotics Bureau, Senior Superintendent of Police Mr. Hemal Prasantha.  Based on the information revealed in those investigations, during further questioning of the suspect, the owner of the fishing vessel, the police has recovered a foreign-made micro pistol, a magazine of same kind, and 04 live ammunitions hidden in a house by the said suspect. Another person suspected of having provided him with the firearm was also arrested in the Hikkaduwa area by officers on 05.01.2025 of the said bureau. The suspects, who were arrested, are residents of the Werellana and Gintota areas, aged 30 and 33 years.   

The chronicle of an investigation that found the two expensive mobile phones from Rathgama that were lost by a tourist couple at Thuparama Temple –  This is the chronicle of an investigation by the Tourist Police Bureau, Anuradhapura, which has found the two mobile phones worth about 500,000 rupees, within a short period of time, which were lost at the Thuparama Temple by an Australian couple, who were in a visit to Sri Lanka for a tour. The couple had visited the Thuparama Temple in Anuradhapura on the morning of 18.12.2024, and while on the way to visit Asgiriya, they have realized that the two phones were missing and lodged a complaint with the Anuradhapura Police Station. The OIC of the said bureau, Inspector of Police Mr. A.W.M. Suresh Santhaka Athapaththu, who has started the investigation from the place where the phones were last seen, that is where the shoes were kept, and has contacted the monk in charge of the temple, who is currently living overseas by phone. Then he has examined the CCTV footage, and has identified the foreign couple, who had forgotten the two phones that were placed on the side wall near the place where the shoes are kept, and an unknown woman and a man who took the two phones and boarded a bus. The license plate number of the bus was identified with great difficulty through the CCTV footage and the owner of the bus was contacted through the Department of Motor Traffic and it was revealed that the bus had been travelling from Galle to Jaffna on the said date with a group of pilgrims on a pilgrimage. Accordingly, the head pilgrim of the group was contacted and the female and the male persons who had taken the two phones were brought to the Rathgama Police Station and taken into police custody on 21.12.2024. During an awareness programme for hotel owners held on 21.12.2024 under the patronage of the Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of the Anuradhapura Division, Mr. Thilina Hewapathirana, Inspector of Police A.W.M. Suresh Santhaka Atapattu took steps to properly hand over the two relevant phones to the foreign couple. Moreover, the foreign couple, who was informed about the investigation that could locate their phones within a short period of about two days, had appreciated the commitment of the Sri Lanka Police.  

It has been observed that traffic police officers often use various types of flashlights for signaling vehicles to stop at night, and it may cause accidents due to the difficulty for drivers to handle and control the vehicle because of the light of the flashlights hit the faces of drivers, and that the officers are more likely to be involved in accidents by not wearing reflective jackets. Accordingly, as instructed previously the Acting Inspector General of Police has instructed the officers deployed in traffic duties to wear reflective luminous jackets and luminous gloves so that they are clearly visible to drivers when signaling to stop vehicles at night, and to use the red flashlights, to the furthest extent, which have currently been issued to police stations to stop vehicles in the future. Moreover, the Acting Inspector General of Police has further instructed the Headquarters Inspectors, Officers in Charge and Officers in Charge Traffic Police to constantly monitor whether the officers deployed in night duties are acting in the said manner.  

In the morning of 12.12.2024, a dead body of the 48-year-old man who resided in the Puwakpitiya area of Habarana was found near a hotel in Laksirigama of the Habarana Police area. Initially it was suspected that death was caused by a road accident, but by the preliminary investigation it was identified as a murder by slitting the throat. Accordingly, the officers of SOCO Habarana, fingerprint officers, and dogs from the Kennel Division were deployed to carry out thorough investigations to identify the criminal. Even though the identity of the suspect was revealed by the investigation, he had already fled the area. Therefore, the officers in police station Habarana launched a search operation to track down the suspect and were able to apprehend the suspect in the evening of 23.12.2024 while hiding in the Madurankuliya police area. The police found the purse wallet and the switch key of the motorcycle, which belonged to the deceased, in possession of the suspect. Further investigations are being carried out by the police station in Habarana regarding the suspect.  

Two more suspects were arrested in the Meegoda area during the investigations carried out by the police officers in the Western Province South Crime Division on 23.12.2024 over the shooting and killing of a man traveling in a car with his wife and child on the night of 14.12.2024, passing Nagahawatte in Meegoda. The suspects are of the ages of 26 and 33 and are residents of the Meegoda area. Based on information provided by one of the suspects, the investigating officers were able to recover a 9 mm pistol and 10 live ammunitions hidden on the bank of a ravine along the Meegoda Kurunduwatta Road. Accordingly, the police officers in the Western Province South Crime Division have arrested the shooter and 06 other suspects who aided and abetted the shooting and carried out further investigations on any other crimes they committed or are about to commit.      

Another suspect who aided and abetted in the shooting incident causing serious injuries to a woman near Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court on 14.12.2024 was arrested by the Colombo Crime Division on 24.12.2024 at Jampettah Street, in the Coastal Police Area. A married couple in Wellampitiya area who kept the firearm in their possession and a person who came to get the firearm from the couple were previously arrested on 20.12.2024 and 22.12.2024, respectively. Accordingly, further investigation has been conducted and this suspect, who has been arrested, was identified as the last person who smuggled the bag with the firearm. The three-wheeler he used to smuggle the bag with the firearm and the mobile phone he used for this purpose have also been taken into police custody. The suspect is a 37-year-old individual in Jampettah Street area. The Organized Crime and Intelligence Unit of the Colombo Crime Division took necessary measures to arrest the Shooter, motorcyclist in connection with this incident, within a period of one week. Further investigation in connection with this incident is being conducted.    

Two individuals, who demanded a ransom of one million rupees from a woman in Kelaniya Police Area, after issuing death threats over the phone, have been arrested by the officers of Western Province North Crime Division, on 22 – 12 – 2014 in Dalugama and Pattiya Junction of Kiribathgoda Police Area. It has been uncovered through the initial investigation that these individuals issued death threat to the woman based on the instructions of a drug trafficker in abroad. Police has seized a mobile phone, which may have been used to make such death threats, for further investigation. Those two suspects, who are at the age of 35 and 53, are residents of Kelaniya.

A team of officers in the Special Task Force camp Buttala conducted a raid in Yala National Park of the Gonagan Ara Police Area. During the raid, the officers were able to round up 06 cannabis cultivations of nearly 13 acres and arrest four suspects. The said suspects were produced at the police station, Gonagan Ara, in the evening of 23.12.2024, for further investigations. The suspects are in the ages of 30, 37, 42, and 43 and are the residents of the Urubokka, Middeniya, Ambilipitiya, and Katuwana areas, respectively.  

On 19.12.2024, officers of the Western Province South Crime Division apprehended the shooter, who shot and killed a 35-year-old man in a forest area by Nagahawatta Road while traveling to his residence in Meegoda, Ovitigala, with his wife and child in a car after attending a party at his elder brother’s house on the night of 14.12.2024. Furthermore, a suspect who aided and abetted the crime was also taken into custody along with the T56 firearm and live ammunition used for the homicide. Three more suspects who abetted the crime were arrested on the afternoon of 22.12.2024 from the Meegoda and Homagama Police Areas. The three suspects, who are 22, 26 and 38 years old, are residents of Padukka and Meegoda areas. One of them is a person who came with the shooter to commit this crime, while the other two individuals have been arrested on the charges of aiding and abetting and conspiring to commit the crime.  The Western Province South Crime Division and the Meegoda Police Station are jointly conducting further investigations to find all the suspects in connection with this crime.