Officers of the Illegal Assets Investigation Division have arrested Vindani Priyadarshani Suriyarachchi, known as “Thotalanga Poddi,” in connection with property allegedly purchased using the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Police said the arrest forms part of an investigation into assets believed to have been acquired through narcotics operations.
Rs. 87.3 million frozen
Investigators said properties valued at approximately Rs. 87.3 million, allegedly bought with funds linked to drug trafficking, have been frozen and rendered inoperative under the ongoing investigation.
Police said Suriyarachchi is expected to be produced before court.
An investigation that has widened
The case has been building for months. In June, the Colombo High Court ordered the seizure of two land plots and a three-storey house in Thotalanga worth around Rs. 30 million, in a Colombo 14 drug-trafficking probe run by the same division. Police at that time said the properties had been acquired through a woman’s drug trafficking activities together with her husband.
The figure now frozen is close to three times that amount, and Thursday’s development marks the first reported arrest of the named suspect in the case.
The Illegal Assets Investigation Division has been central to a wider police push to confiscate property acquired through crime. At a separate briefing on Thursday, police said initial legal proceedings had begun since 1 January to take into state custody illegally acquired assets worth Rs. 839 million, following Rs. 1.49 billion frozen in 2024 and Rs. 1.549 billion in 2025.
