News
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Underworld
of no return
Police strongly believe that the killing was connected with Amarasinghe's murder last Friday as the victim has been identified as a close associate of army deserter Chaminda Udaya Kumara who is now in custody for gunning down Amarasinghe. Those who become underworld gangsters know that their survival depends on the elimination of their rivals. One cannot kill and withdraw. To survive, one has to kill, kill and kill -- until he gets killed. The case of Moratu Saman is a classic example. While he was being treated for gun shot injuries which he sustained during an attempt on his life, he was reportedly talking about reforming himself to lead a normal life. His little daughter was said to have pleaded with her father to give up thuggery and violence as she could not bear what was being spoken about him by her school friends. But before long, he was killed. There is little coexistence in the underworld, though there could be temporary alliances. A law unto themselves, underworld gangsters believe only in shotgun justice. Armed to the teeth, the gangsters continue their killing spree. In this war of the underworld gangs, Dhammika Amarasinghe had lost 16 of his relatives before he was killed. Thotalanga 'Kudu Bandu' was the latest victim in this warfare. He was killed in the Grandpass area. A three-year-old child who happened to be at the scene was also killed. The emergence of the modern underworld in Sri Lanka is a dangerous byproduct of the 20-year ethnic war. Army desertion, easy access to and availability of deadly weapons, police preoccupation with LTTE terrorism, the lucrative heroin trade, criminalisation of politics and political patronage for criminals are some of the factors that allowed this canker to take root and spread across the Sri Lankan body politic. Besides these factors, the erosion in people's confidence in the police and the judiciary and their lack of respect for these institutions have brought in lucrative business to the underworld in the form of contract killings. With the degeneration of standards in politics, power hungry politicians are known to be openly courting underworld figures. Some had even reportedly provided hideouts to gangsters when they were being hunted by police, while others had sent the wanted criminals abroad or pressurized police to abandon their investigations. Senior police officers facing the daunting task of cracking down on the underworld admit that political patronage the underworld members receive is one of the problems they encounter in carrying out their duties. However, they are also quick to point to a possible nexus between some unscrupulous police officers and the underworld. A special police unit set up to check underworld gangs has identified 342 hard core criminals, of which 66 have already been killed and 64 are in custody while another five have fled the country. This means more than 207 hardcore criminals are still at large. Police
believe it is these 200-odd top members who run 29 underworld groups. The Obeysekarapura and Kotte areas have been the base from where many of them had operated. Dhammika Amerasinghe's uncle, Noel Amerasinghe, was a gang leader in the late 1960s. Nawala Nihal who is currently in remand custody is one of his close associates. Noel's clash with his brother led to the formation of two groups. Noel was arrested and sentenced in a murder case in 1979. Around the same period another notorious criminal was building up his base. He was Don Arambewela Upali alias Soththi Upali. Soththi Upali had a large following in the underworld as he is said to have had the right political connection during the UNP regime of 1980s. He was duly rewarded with lucrative government contracts in return for his services to the party. It was during the early 1990s that Dhammika Amarasinghe and his brother Chinthaka Amarasinghe got into criminal activities, after several of their relatives including their aunty and Noel's brother had been killed. The 1990s marked the intensification of gang warfare with several top underworld leaders being wiped out in the most brutal manner. Noel Amarasinghe, Soththi Upali, Kaduwela Wasantha, Kalu Ajith, Kotte Sunil, Moratu Saman, Ambiga, Christopher Barry, Beddagana Sanjeewa, and 'Kudu Noor' are among some of the key underworld figures who were killed by the weapons they lived by. The killing of the gang leaders did not end the gang. When the head is gone, the second in command takes over with his immediate task being taking revenge for the killing of the leader. Whoever assumes the leadership of the gang is assured of the political patronage, which is one of the major obstacles that render police impotent. The Sunday Times learns a top ruling party politico has made arrangements for an underworld gang leader whose photograph adorns every police station islandwide, to flee to India. Ill-planned amnesties offered to criminals to surrender their weapons also have not brought in the desired results. The Amnesty offered by former Interior Minister John Amaratunga soon after the UNF came into office was questioned by some senior police officers who believed such a move would absolve the criminals of the murders and crimes they had committed. "Some underworld figures got in touch with the police headquarters in response to the amnesty offer. They wanted to hand over the weapons on condition that the police dropped the charges against them. But we could not agree to it, because every weapon they were to surrender had been used in a crime. Because of this dilemma, the amnesty offer did not bring in the intended results," a senior police officer who wanted not to be named said. He said the police had all the information about the movements of the underworld figures, but could not arrest them because there was little evidence against them. "No one dares to come forward to give evidence against the underworld members," he said. "Even in the Dhammika Amarasinghe murder case, nobody has come forward to give evidence although the killing took place in the presence of a large number of people," he said. As witnesses fear consequences, it is difficult for the police to prove the cases against the underworld figures. Asked whether some police officers were in cahoots with the underworld, the senior officer said he believed some police officers also were maintaining close connections with the underworld, providing them with information about police plans. As long as politicians and some police officers depend on the underworld, the scourge of crime is there to stay. With elections round the corner, political patronage of the underworld is to be revived. After all, wasn't it the underworld connection that helped certain politicians to win the Wayamba elections a few years ago and the Kandy district elections at the 2000 general elections? |
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