News
New strategy to curb underworld following multiple killings
Scene of the shooting at Weeraketiya that left one dead and two injured
In the wake of several brazenly violent attacks and killings in the Western Province this week, linked to the underworld, Police Headquarters has tasked Senior DIG Western Province Pujith Jayasundara with overseeing a new strategy regarding underworld activities and illegal firearms. A series of police operations in this regard began yesterday.
Accordingly, Inspector General of Police (IGP) N.K. Illangakoon yesterday ordered all Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) in charge of police divisions in the province to personally supervise intelligence gathering in their divisions on underworld activities and take steps to arrest identified gang members and track down illegal firearms.
They have also been assured of assistance from the Police Special Task Force (STF) to go after underworld figures if they request such assistance.
Senior Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Pujith Jayasundara will oversee these operations in his capacity as Senior DIG Western Province.
The moves came as the police were still looking out for the suspects linked to several shootings that took place this week.
Chief among these incidents was the attack in Dematagoda last Wednesday afternoon, where several men attacked a prison bus transporting inmates from the Hulftsdorf Court Complex to the Welikada Prison.
Police believe that assailants were targeting alleged underworld figure ‘Dematagoda Chaminda’ who is one of the accused in the killing of former Parliamentarian and Presidential Advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three others.
The bus had been taking Chaminda and three other prisoners back to Welikada Prison when the assailants, two of whom were on a motor cycle while the others were in a black coloured hybrid vehicle, opened fire at the bus after drawing alongside it.
Chaminda was shot multiple times. He was still being treated at the Colombo National Hospital yesterday under a combined guard consisting of prison officials and police.
Prisons Department Spokesman Thushara Upuldeniya said the department had initiated an internal investigation into the incident.
He however, said initial inquiries had revealed that prison officers and police guards inside the bus had reacted swiftly to the attack, shooting back at the assailants, forcing them to flee after which the injured prisoner was transported to hospital.
On Thursday, police also released CCTV footage of the moments leading up to the attack, which showed a black coloured hybrid car driving alongside the prison bus. However, a check on the car’s licence plate has drawn a blank after it emerged it was a fake number.
Police also believe that one of the attackers, who was shot when officers inside the bus returned fire, may now be in a critical condition, given the amount of blood found on the road after the incident.
It is thought Wednesday’s attack on ‘Dematagoda Chaminda’ had been organised by rival underworld figure ‘Bloemendhal Sanka.’ A turf war between gangs of these two underworld figures has resulted in several deaths on both sides, as well as claiming the lives of innocents.
The most notable incident in this feud occurred on July 31, last year, when gunmen opened fire at a group of persons who were part of a procession of United National Party (UNP) supporters at Bloemendhal in Kotahena.
Two people, including a woman were killed and 11 others injured in the incident. None of the victims had ties to the underworld.
However, police later said the gunmen had been targeting ‘Bloemendhal Sanka’ and ‘Army Sampath,’ who were thought to be taking part in the procession. Most of the attackers were subsequently arrested. Investigators also established that ‘Dematagoda Chaminda’ had masterminded the attack from prison.
On Thursday afternoon two men wearing full-face helmets burst into a house at Arunodaya Mawatha, Welikada and shot 32-year-old Dhanuska Harsha, a resident of Matara.
The victim succumbed to his injuries soon after being admitted to the Colombo National Hospital. It was later revealed that the dead man, an alleged underworld figure, was also a suspect in the 2006 murder of former Southern Province Minister and former Southern Lanka Development Authority (SLDA) Chairman Danny Hittetiya.
The assailant had been released on bail from the Matara prison on February 29 after being arrested over a firearms offence. He had been temporarily staying at the house in Obeysekerapura when he was shot.
Police are also on the look-out for two men who shot and killed a 41-year-old businessman at Kochchikade in Katana on Friday.
The assailants, who had come on a motor cycle, had escaped after shooting the victim who was riding his motor cycle. The victim was identified as Nilantha Champika Seneviratne.
Meanwhile, no arrests have also been made in relation to last Sunday’s (28) incident when several gunmen travelling in a hybrid vehicle fired on a van at Kirimetiyawa Junction in Weeraketiya, leaving one person dead and two others injured.
According to police, one of the occupants in the van was a suspect in a murder case and was also linked to several violent crimes in the area.
He was out on bail and had been returning home from the Weeraketiya Police Station, where he was required to report every Sunday as per court order. However, the individual who was killed was not the murder suspect but the van’s driver.
Police believe the suspects are based in the Western Province after it was discovered that the vehicle they had arrived in had been hired from the Katunayake area the day before on the pretext of transporting a man returning from abroad to his home in Weeraketiya.
However, the driver of the hired vehicle had later been forced out at gunpoint by the men who then used the vehicle to carry out the shooting before abandoning it.
| Pregnant woman shot in front of Welikada Prison A 23-year-old pregnant woman, was shot and injured in front of the Welikada Prison in Borella last afternoon. The victim, a resident of Danowita, had reportedly been visiting her husband who is an inmate at the prison. She and her sister had just left the premises when a motorcyclist who had stopped near them suddenly opened fire on the victim. She was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Colombo National Hospital with serious gunshot wounds. | |