News
Rising Gun violence: Authorities vow lock-stock-and-barrel response
View(s):- Public Security Minister and police say most shooting incidents linked to organised criminal gang rivalries and drug cartels; several arrests made
- Increased coordination between law-enforcement agencies; military will be called in if the need arises
By Sandun Jayawardana
Addressing a media briefing at the Presidential Media Centre on Monday, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles admitted that incidents related to underworld crime had increased. Nevertheless, he pointed out that law enforcement authorities had also been successful in arresting suspects linked to a significant number of such incidents. 
A majority of the shootings involving organised criminal gangs stem from disputes over narcotic distribution, Minister Alles told the Sunday Times. “Drugs and the underworld go together. We are already implementing plans we have made to tackle this situation. I cannot divulge details of such operations,” he said. The minister, however, expressed confidence that these activities would be eradicated as a result of the intensified operations.
Government authorities say there has been increased coordination between different agencies, including the police, the Special Task Force (STF), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the State Intelligence Service (SIS), in a bid to tackle the activities of organised criminal gangs. The government has also noted that the military will be called in to aid law enforcement authorities in certain instances, should the need arise.
This year has seen a spate of fatal shootings, some carried out in broad daylight in crowded locations where many witnesses have been present. A total of 70 shooting incidents have been recorded up until August 31, according to police statistics. The incidents have claimed 41 lives and resulted in injuries to 30 others. A majority of the shootings have been reported from the Western and Southern Provinces and have been connected to organised criminal gang rivalries. Shootings have also been reported from the Northern, North-Central and Central Provinces. Some shooting incidents have been linked to personal disputes, including clashes over land.
Crime scene at Maligawatte where a shop owner was shot and wounded by two motocycle assailants on Friday. Pic by Nilan Maligaspe
Another shooting was added to these statistics on Friday afternoon (1) when two unidentified assailants on a motorbike opened fire on a person inside a shop in Maligawatte. The victim, a 38-year-old businessman, had only just opened a new three-wheeler repair shop at the location with his brother when he was shot. He was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital. Initial police investigations have revealed that the victim had been threatened by another party not to open the shop, but he had refused to bow to these threats.
On Thursday afternoon, unidentified gunmen on a motorbike also shot and injured a 34-year-old man in Ambalangoda. The shooting took place on a byroad near Dharmasoka College in Ambalangoda. At the time of the incident, the victim had been driving his van on his way to pick up his child from school. A motive for the shooting has yet to be established. Police, however, suspect that the incident is another in a long string of similar shootings linked to a turf war over drug trafficking between two rival Southern Province underworld groups whose operations are centred around Ambalangoda.
Both Minister Alles and the police have insisted that law enforcement authorities have been successful in tracking down and arresting many of those involved in recent shooting incidents. On Friday, police announced the arrest of two more suspects directly linked to the brazen daylight shooting of a man travelling in a three-wheeler in Wellampitiya on Monday afternoon. The victim, a 47-year-old resident of Modera, died at the scene.
Investigations launched by the Western Province South Crime Investigation Division led to the arrest of a 33-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man over the incident. Police said the arrested woman had admitted she had lured the victim to the crime scene on the pretext of going on a hire in his three-wheeler. She had allegedly maintained close links with an overseas-based drug trafficker and acted on his instructions. Police said she had been paid to lure the victim to the location.
The 41-year-old male suspect was allegedly the one who paid the woman and is said to be in charge of the drug trafficker’s finances and local distribution of drugs. He was arrested with 10 grams of ‘Ice’ narcotics, nine mobile phones, and more than Rs. 1.7 million in cash suspected to have been obtained through drug trafficking.
Police have been able to identify many of those involved in recent shootings, Police spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nihal Thalduwa told the Sunday Times. To back up his claim, he said police had identified those linked to Thursday’s shooting in Ambalangoda, and investigations were ongoing to arrest the suspects. He also said three suspects had been arrested over the Wellampitiya shooting, and police were continuing a hunt for the two gunmen involved.
Authorities have also intensified some aspects of operations, such as deploying roadblocks and conducting more raids, he further said, elaborating on efforts to crack down on organised criminal gang activity.
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