News
Polonnaruwa army camp missing weapons only the tip of the iceberg
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
A multi-pronged investigation is ongoing to both trace the T-56 assault rifles that have gone missing from the armoury of an army camp in Polonnaruwa and to determine who was responsible.
A total of 73 T-56 firearms were confirmed to have gone missing from the armoury. As of Friday (23), authorities have been able to recover 36 of them. More than half of the missing weapons, however, are still unaccounted for.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is conducting investigations into the incident and based on their probe, it has been found that the assault rifles had been smuggled out of the army camp over a period of roughly one year, starting from mid-2019 to mid-2020, Police Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) K.B. Manathunga told the Sunday Times.
The theft first came to light when the Police Special Task Force (STF) found a stock of up to 10 T-56 assault rifles during a raid conducted in Mount Lavinia some time ago, according to police.
A matter of serious concern is that many of the firearms have found their way to organised criminal gangs, commonly referred to as underworld groups. SSP Manathunga confirmed that all 36 assault rifles recovered so far had been recovered from the possession of suspects connected to such groups.
Police also believe there are some criminal gangs who are hiring out these firearms for a fee. Accordingly, it is suspected that the same weapon may have been used to commit multiple crimes.
Meanwhile, police have also sent two recently recovered T-56 firearms to the Government Analyst’s Department for testing to determine whether they are also part of the stock of weapons that were stolen from the army camp’s armoury. These weapons were recovered from the Welikanda area.
In the first instance, police had arrested a suspect with a pistol from Wellampitiya on January 11. He had been held and interrogated under detention orders. Based on information provided by him, a group of officers attached to the Organised Crime Investigation Unit of the Colombo Crimes Division had travelled to Welikanda and arrested a 53-year-old suspect along with a T-56 firearm, a magazine and 18 rounds of live ammunition on January 16. The suspect is a serving member of the Civil Security Department (CSD) in Polonnaruwa and had been attached to the Welikanda Police. The suspect had claimed to investigators that he had found the assault rifle from a location where LTTE cadres had frequented during the war and that he had taken it home.
Investigators had questioned the arrested CSD officer after obtaining a 90-day detention order against him. Information he provided later led them to recover another T-56 assault rifle he had allegedly sold for Rs. 200, 000. This firearm was recovered from Welioya on January 18 along with a T-56 magazine and 11 live rounds of ammunition. A 47-year-old suspect was arrested over possessing the illegal firearm. The suspect is the owner of a shop and a resident of Kalingavila, Welikanda.
In both these cases, investigators are looking at whether the recovered firearms had been used to commit any other crimes.
“We have managed to reduce the circulation of illegal firearms compared to many other countries. However, even one illegal firearm that’s in circulation is too many and we are doing our best to take each one out of circulation,” the police spokesman added.
The army meanwhile is conducting its own internal investigation into how the firearms went missing from the army camp’s armoury, said Colonel Nalin Herath, the Ministry of Defence’s Spokesman and Director Media.
“We are in the midst of an investigation now. This is a very serious issue to have so many weapons going missing from the armoury of an army camp,” Deputy Minister of Defence Major General (Rtd.) Aruna Jayasekera told the Sunday Times. He added that the matter has also been discussed at the National Security Council. “We have taken serious care about the weapons we are holding now. We have taken all security measures. This will not happen again,” the deputy minister assured.
The issue of a minority of serving members of the police and security forces being connected to underworld elements has also raised serious concern. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala revealed in Parliament on Tuesday (21) that an Army Major, six other ranks, a police officer, a civil security officer, 15 organised criminals and 15 who aided and abetted the crimes have been arrested by authorities in recent days.
The minister also revealed details of illegal firearms that had been recovered since September 23, 2024, after the new government came to power. Seven T56 firearms, 10 pistols and 14 revolvers were among the weapons that have been recovered during this period, he further revealed. Meanwhile, some 354 kilograms of heroin, 3847 kg of Kerala Cannabis, 3.8 kg of cocaine, 181.9 kg of hashish and 759 kg of crystal methamphetamine (‘Ice’) have also been recovered during this period, he added.
Several serving members of the security forces and police, as well as deserters from the army have been arrested over some high-profile crimes that were committed recently. They include an army deserter arrested over a shooting in Mount Lavinia. Meanwhile two army drivers were among seven arrested over the theft of Rs. 3 million from a jewellery shop owner in Jaffna. The group had allegedly posed as police officers and robbed the owner of Rs. 3 million after threatening him by saying they will lay charges accusing him of being in possession of gold that had been buried by the LTTE. A serving army soldier was also among three suspects arrested over the recent shooting in front of the Mannar Magistrate’s Court that left two persons dead, and two others injured.
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