A 20-year-old man described by police as a member of an organised crime gang has been arrested with crystal methamphetamine and sharp weapons during a raid on Lake Road in Boralesgamuwa.
The raid was carried out on Tuesday (4) on intelligence information by officers attached to what Ada Derana identified as the Walana Central Anti-Corruption Unit. Officers seized 23.5 grams of Ice, a sword and a knife from the suspect before handing him over to the Boralesgamuwa Police.
The suspect, a resident of Boralesgamuwa, is believed to have been running a local drug trafficking network on behalf of an organised crime figure and drug trafficker currently based overseas, according to police investigations.
Police alleged that he was hiding in a house with the sword and knife while planning to carry out a murder when officers arrived.
Investigators found that the suspect has multiple cases pending against him at several police stations, over alleged offences including abduction, assault, causing grievous injury with sharp weapons and drug trafficking. Further investigations are under way.
A recurring address for narcotics raids
Boralesgamuwa and the adjoining Werahera area have featured repeatedly in narcotics enforcement over the past year. Police seized about six kilograms of heroin and Ice in a raid at Werahera in June — a far larger quantity, and a separate case from Tuesday’s arrest.
The quantity recovered this time is small by comparison. What police have set out instead is a claimed command structure: a local distributor said to be taking direction from a trafficker who has left the country, an arrangement that has become a familiar feature of Sri Lankan organised crime cases as senior figures relocate abroad while networks continue to operate at home.
The alleged murder plot, if established, would place the arrest alongside a run of recent contract-style attacks in the Colombo suburbs, including an attempted shooting at a Dehiwala bakery reported on Tuesday.
No charges had been filed at the time of reporting.
