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Coordinated police raids launched after data analysis lead to arrests of suspected underworld members
In a string of coordinated raids, police have arrested several associates of underworld gang lords, including gunmen involved in shooting incidents, and detected large quantities of drugs, a senior police officer said.
Deputy Inspector General Priyantha Jayakody, who is in charge of the Crimes Record Division, said the raids were launched simultaneously to track down shooters and drug traffickers.
The raids came after a thorough analysis of criminal activities of notorious underworld figures.
The DIG said that by creating separate databases, the western and southern police divisions were able to establish the connection between drug lords and gunmen and study the movements of organised criminal groups, the DIG said.
He added that the initiative had been taken under the direction of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne and Acting Inspector General C.D Wickrameratne.
“Once we studied the structures of the organised crime groups and their movements, we learned that there are drug traffickers operating locally and internationally,” he said.
DIG Jayakody said they had identified 19 big-time drug traffickers who were directing operations from foreign countries to send narcotics drugs to Sri Lanka.
He said the police had sent Interpol red notices to foreign countries, urging them that the suspects be deported to Sri Lanka.
In addition, the police, by analysing data, were able to zero in on 18 professional gunmen who worked hand in glove with the notorious drug lords. One of the objectives of the simultaneous raids were to track them down.
The DIG said that with the police launching operations against underworld criminals, there had been a decline in shooting incidents since June 16 this year.
The operations this week led to the detection of 50 kilograms of heroin and the recovery of ten illegal firearms.
One of the most recent detections was made on Friday morning. Colombo Crimes Division(CCD) officers said they carried out a raid in Orugodawatte and arrested a suspect who was transporting more than three kg of heroin in a car. The operation was launched following a tipoff. The detectives also recovered Rs. 600,000 in cash, blank cheques and two visa cards.
The suspect is being detained and interrogated by the CCD after it obtained a detention order from the Maligakanda Magistrate’s court.
In another incident early this week, the CCD arrested four suspects at the Colombo airport’s departure terminal before they left abroad. The suspects were detained and questioned under a detention order.
Police say information provided by one of the suspects police enabled them to detect 42 grams of heroin, three T-56 assault rifles, five magazines, one pistol and 170 rounds of live ammunition from a house at Mulleriyawa in Angoda.
One of the suspects is Ranasinghe Arachchige Ishara Lakmal, a resident of Sedawatta Wellampitiya. He is widely believed to be the person who smuggled Kerala Ganja to Sri Lanka. Another suspect identified as Gamage Saranga Pradeep, a resident of Rock House Lane in Modara maintained close connections with underworld groups and local and foreign drug traffickers.
Others who were arrested in recent raids were identified as Kathaluwa Liyanage Buddika, a henchman of drug lord Angoda Lokka. He had Rs. 2.9 million in his possession at the time of arrest. Nabin Mohomad Subir, a resident of Wellampitiya, is another suspect now in police custody. He was identified as another henchman of Angoda Lokka and is a suspect in the Hanwella Peoples’ Bank robbery.
The police said they were conducting further investigation.
In another breakthrough reported from Hinbunna area in Tangalle on Wednesday, a suspected underworld member was arrested with a T-56 firearm and a magazine consisting of 30 live bullets.
The Tangalle crimes division said the suspect was taken to the Weerakatiya Police station, where police upon interrogation found there were 25 court cases against him, mostly for burglary. He also had 11 warrants against them.
Meanwhile, the Deniyaya police have arrested a suspect the day he manufactured a gun. Also in the same area, the police raided a house of an army sergeant on Wednesday and recovered a T -56 firearm, a magazine comprising 30 bullets, three army kits and a sword.
| Suspected underworld gunmen die after police shooting | |
| Two gang members who worked as gunmen for drug traffickers were shot dead by police in separate incidents, when they tried to attack police officers. The most recent incident took place on Friday at Nawagamuwa, near Kaduwela. The Police said the incident took place around 11 pm on Friday when the suspect identified as Indunil Wajira alias Indra was being brought back to Colombo after he led police officers to a place where he had hidden weapons. The officers found a 12 bore bun, a one locally manufactured gun, a grenade and some live bullets. Police said that during the return journey, the suspect pounced on the police vehicle driver and tried to strangle him using his handcuffs. The police said the vehicle went out of control as a result and hit a tree by the side of the river at Nawagamuwa. One of the police officers then shot the suspect while trying to overpower the suspect. The other incident took place two weeks ago in Malabe. Police said this happened when a notorious gunman who worked for Angoda Lokka was being taken out to a place in Malabe to show the detectives where he had hidden his weapons. Police claimed that they were forced to shoot the suspect identified as Asitha Hemathilake when he tried to throw a grenade at the police while they were collecting the weapons. |