News
Underworld crime taking a toll on innocents, endangering public safety
View(s):By Kasun Warakapitiya
An increasing number of recent shooting incidents where bystanders are being harmed is endangering public safety.
The police said most shootings happen in the western and southern provinces, where organised crime groups are active.
Police crime records reveal that around 32 shooting incidents took place over the first three months of this year, causing 21 deaths and injuring 14.
This week, two separate shooting incidents happened on Monday at Pitigala in Elpitiya and Ambalangoda. Police said T-56 rifles had been used by two individuals on motorcycles.
However, police have not yet confirmed whether the two shootings were done by the same group.
The striking difference between the two incidents was that bystanders were injured.
The Pitigala shooting caused two deaths and three injuries. The dead were identified as Sasith Madhushanka, 32,
from Karandeniya, and Kavishka Anjana, 28,
from Thalgaswewa.
The two assailants on a motorcycle had approached a shop at Pitigala to kill the shop owner, but he had
fled. Instead, bystanders were harmed.
Police believe that the gunman used the burst setting in a semi-automatic T-56, and bystanders were hurt as a result.
A separate incident occurred at Galagoda, Ambalangoda. Two people were killed, and two more were injured. The dead were identified as Udesh Maduranaga and Sithum Sanjana.
Following the killings, Special Task Force (STF) officers began patrols in Ambalangoda, Balapitiya and Kosgoda areas and near bus stops and fresh
food markets.
Crime incidents on the rise inspite of Operation Yukthiya. Pic by Indika Handuwala
More gang-related activities occurred in the southern province. Most cases were reported from Ambalangoda, Kosgoda, Pitigala, and Balapitiya areas.
Nihal Thalduwa, the Deputy Inspector General in charge of crimes and police media spokesman, reasoned that most incidents occur in the Western and Southern provinces, as most organised crime groups are based and active in these areas.
“The common practice among gangs is to target members of rival organised crime groups over drug-related disputes, or to settle scores by killing rival gang members,’’ he said.
The incidents were not only in the Southern Province. Another shooting took place at Mattakkuliya in the Alliwatta area
on Tuesday.
Two gunmen had arrived at the residence of their target, “Aliwatte Viraj”, and had fired with a revolver. One shot had struck the wall of the house.
Following the incident, relatives of Viraj threw stones and damaged four houses belonging to the suspect shooters. Police have arrested Viraj and another 19-year-old suspect.
Meanwhile, Senior Deputy Inspector of Police (SDIG) in charge of the Southern Province, Sajeewa Madawaththa, said that though it was bystanders who had been harmed in two incidents, organised crime groups’ target was rival gang members.
“Organised crime groups are linked to drug-related crime. So, we set up roadblocks and checked houses that had been rented.’’
He confirmed that more police and STF officers had been called up in Ambalangoda, Kosgoda and Balapitiya and elsewhere.
SDIG Madawatta said the distance between police stations and the scale of the areas to be covered are challenges.
Following the shootings this week, the Inspector General of Police visited southern police areas and asked to increase the number of officers.
Meanwhile, a victim of a shooting last year who refused to be named due to security reasons said that he was shot while he was riding his motorcycle.
Two men wearing full-face helmets and blackish outfits came after him on a motorcycle, and the pillion rider shot him, he said.
He reasoned that he had been targeted because he had given evidence to the police against an organised criminal group.
| Police crime intel ‘extremely weak’ The police should strengthen the crime intelligence unit and track down organised criminals to put an end to gangs that are terrorising people, retired senior DIG Priyanatha Jayakodi told the Sunday Times. Mr. Jayakodi, who was also a former director of the crimes and organised crime division, said that police and STF presence can help prevent incidents, but to stop organised criminal activity, suspects should be hunted down. “The police should narrow down the Southern and Western Province areas where organised crime is high and systematically carry out manhunts of gang members with the help of police crime intelligence.” He said police crime intelligence is extremely weak and that covert operations are needed, not media shows. Hired guns from the military Getting firearms and hiring gunmen have become easier in post-war Sri Lanka, says retired senior DIG Priyantha Jayakodi. Military retirees, deserters and even a few on active duty do become hitmen for money. He said firearms abandoned by LTTE terrorists, lost during the war, or stolen from On one occasion, he found a group of security forces personnel taking firearms
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