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Fire power of robbers
Nivithigala incident exposes vulnerability of police
Sri Lanka’s police officers have faced armed enemies when they were engaged in countering the northern separatist war and the two JVP-led insurrections in the south. The common criminal those days was poorly armed.

The police officers who were first armed with baton and bayonet, then the .303 rifle and later T-56 automatics, had the upper hand in quelling the threats posed by the common criminal. The situation today has changed. The common criminal is either equally well armed or carries superior weapons. The job of a police officer has become more dangerous as last week’s incident at Nivithigala shows.

Nivithigala police Inspector Anura Kumarasiri and Constable P. Karunapala were gunned down by a gang of 12 armed robbers who were terrorising a gem merchant and his family members after they broke into his house on September 17, Poya day.

The police team had come there after a daughter of the gem merchant managed to give the slip to the robbers and call the police from a neighbour’s house. When the police team arrived at the scene, the well armed robbers met fire with fire before they fled.

Inspector Kumarasiri was from Kahawatta and a father of two – Chethana Pabasiri, 8, and Ravindu Randika, 6. Constable Karunapala who was from Gilimale was also a father of two – Kasun Sanjaya, 13, and Tharindu Danushka, 9. His widow, Margaret, is also a police officer serving in Batticaloa. It was the constable who was looking after the children.

Describing the chilling events, gem merchant A. Seneviratne said about 12 robbers had come in a van and stormed into his house around 6. 30 p.m. He said about eight of them carried weapons and he and his family members were threatened at gunpoint before their hands were tied behind their backs. The robbers had then ransacked the place and had taken some gems and jewellery which they loaded into the van .

It was during all this that Mr. Seneviratne ‘s daughter made a daring escape to a neighbours house to call the police. Inspector Kumarasiri and constable Karunapala were on duty at Saman Devale which was holding its annual perahera. As soon as they received a message about the robbery, they wasted no time in rushing to the scene.

They arrived at the gem merchant’s house, just as the robbers were leaving in a vehicle, which the police say carried a bogus number plate.
Police have assigned more than 150 officers to track down the killers.

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