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Kurana shootout: Police on manhunt for three more dangerous criminals
Police are hunting for a dangerous underworld gang allegedly connected to the four suspects arrested following a gun battle with the police Special Task Force (STF) last Saturday.
Scene of last week's shootout in Kurana. Pic by Prasad Muthukuda
Investigations have revealed that four more gang members were in a separate van but made good their escape when they saw the STF confronting those inside the other vehicle.
One of them was arrested this week in Peliyagoda along with a T56 firearm. The other three gang members are still at large.
STF Commandant and Senior Deputy Inspector General M.R. Latheef told the Sunday Times that last Saturday’s STF operation helped neutralise a dangerous underworld gang wanted in connection with a string of serious crimes. He praised the STF personnel for their quick action and the precaution they exercised during the gun battle to prevent innocent bystanders getting hurt.
“This was a very busy area on a main road and it happened on a Saturday, when many people are out and about,” he said, noting that had the STF personnel not acted quickly and decisively, many innocent bystanders could have been hurt.
SDIG Latheef said his men had little to go on when they launched the operation in the afternoon of August 12 when they received information that morning that a criminal gang was traveliing to Negombo to commit a major crime.
“The only clue we had was that they (criminals) were in a white Toyota van,” the STF chief said. With only this piece of information available, the STF deployed its counter intelligence units along with heavily armed Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams to the area that afternoon to locate the van.
Around 5.5 p.m., an STF unit observed a van parked opposite Indra Traders at Kunarana Junction on the Negombo-Colombo Road. The vehicle matched the description they had received. Its engine was running and windows were tinted. It was difficult to make out who was inside.
The STF vehicles then approached the van to ascertain who the occupants were, at which point they were met by gunfire from inside, and the driver accelerated the vehicle to escape.
Even as bullets flew around him, the driver of an STF vehicle cut across the van to block its escape, resulting in the two vehicles hitting each other and going into the ditch on the side of the road. The shootout continued even as the vehicles came to an abrupt stop.
Two of the suspects inside the van were struck by bullets. They were lying on the floorboard. The other two suspects were unharmed. They were taken into custody. A search revealed that the gang had come heavily armed. Two T56 guns and a .22 semi-automatic pistol were recovered from the suspects along with dozens of rounds of live ammunition. Three different number plates and six mobile phones were also found inside the van.
Police later identified all four suspects. They were identified as Champika Kumara Jayatunge (28) from Biyagama, Vajira Kumara (41) from Seeduwa, Janaka Aruna Shantha (40) from Theldeniya and Tharindu Madhusha (31) from Ragama.
Jayatunge and Vajira Kumara were admitted to the Ragama Teaching Hospital as they suffered gunshot injiuries. Vajira Kumara was later transferred to the National Hospital as his condition was serious. He is still receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Vajira Kumara has also been identified by authorities as a close associate of fugitive underworld leader Makandure Madhush who is accused of planning the ambush of a prison bus in Kalutara in February. That attack left five prisoners, including rival underworld leader ‘Samayan,’ and two prison guards dead.
The other suspects also had extensive criminal records. The crimes they are accused of committing include murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery and extortion, according to police.
Aruna Shantha was a Navy deserter. He had been arrested previously by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for alleged involvement in human smuggling.
Further investigations are being conducted by the Negombo police.