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Gangsters' funerals amidst unruly protests
By Asif Fuard
The funeral of the three underworld kingpins shot dead by the STF in Nittambuwa took place yesterday at Jawatte amidst unruly protests. One of the dead was said to be the successor of Potta Naufer. The mob in three wheelers and vans chanted slogans saying "the police are murderers".

An eyewitness said the mob had tried to divert the vehicles back the way they had come. "An armed person pulled a bus conductor out and assaulted him because he tried to reason with the mob," he said.

Niyaz Ayub 26 alias Slave Island Hajji was shot dead with two others by the STF after allegedly throwing a hand grenade and injuring two police officers in Dangolla, Nittambuwa on Friday. Ayub was wanted by the Slave Island and Maligawatte police for 48 murders, robberies and extortion. Special Investigations Branch, headed by ASP C.E. Vedisinghe had reportedly revealed that a T-56 rifle found in Ayub's hideout in Nittabuwa was the one that was used to kill Provincial Councillor Namal Gunawardene.

Crimes Division Director SSP B. Wijeywardena said Ayub was arrested with Mohamed Fowz alias McDonald 27 and Mohammed Niyaz 24, on Thursday 20. "He led the police to the Nittambuwa hideout. There he had taken a hand grenade and hurled it at the police. After the blast injured two officers Ayub and his accomplices were shot dead by the STF," he said.

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