A wanted organised crime figure arrested in Oman was flown back to Sri Lanka early on Tuesday morning, police said, the latest in a run of repatriations of suspects Sri Lankan authorities say have been directing criminal activity from overseas.
Ada Derana identified the suspect as Dimuthu Chaturanga, known as “Summitpura Chatu”, a 28-year-old resident of Mattakkuliya who was the subject of a pending Interpol Red Notice. He was arrested in Oman and subsequently deported.
A team from the Criminal Investigation Department escorted him back to the island, NewsFirst reported. Police Spokesman Assistant Superintendent of Police F.U. Wootler confirmed the suspect had been brought from Oman.
Taken to the CCD
In a later report on Tuesday morning, Ada Derana said the suspect was escorted from Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake to the Colombo Crimes Division under tight security for further interrogation.
That report gave his full name as Kankanamage Dimuthu Chathuranga Perera and said he also goes by “Modara Chathu”. It said he fled to Oman on March 22, 2025 using a forged passport, and that he was apprehended there by a team of Criminal Investigation Department officers.
Ada Derana identified him as one of the suspects in the murder of “Ganemulla Sanjeewa”, and described him as a key figure wanted in connection with several crimes committed in Sri Lanka.
Wanted in several cases
Wootler said the suspect was wanted in connection with murder, other serious crimes, drug trafficking and the possession of a bomb, according to NewsFirst.
Neither outlet gave the date of his arrest in Oman, or said whether he had been produced before a court.
Conflicting details
Ada Derana’s two filings on Tuesday differ on the suspect’s age and address. Its first report described him as a 28-year-old resident of Mattakkuliya; its second gave his age as 38 and his address as Summitpura, Modara, Colombo 15. The outlet did not reconcile the two, and LankaNewz has not independently established which is correct.
The newsrooms also render his alias differently: Ada Derana uses “Summitpura Chatu” while NewsFirst uses “Samithpura Chathu”. LankaNewz has used Ada Derana’s form, which matches its identification of him by name.
Part of a wider repatriation drive
The return follows a series of similar operations. Three organised crime suspects held in Malaysia — including an alleged close associate of Kanjipani Imran — were flown back to Colombo on August 10, an operation police later publicly defended.
Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekara said last week that 58 criminals wanted under Interpol Red Notices have been repatriated, though that figure sits above earlier police accounting of the Red Notice mechanism specifically.
Update (August 22): second firearm recovered at Sedawatta
A revolver-type firearm was recovered on Friday from a deserted house in the Sedawatta area of Wellampitiya, on information provided by the suspect during interrogation, Ada Derana reported. The weapon is believed to have been manufactured in Sri Lanka.
It is the second firearm traced through his questioning. In an earlier round of interrogation the Colombo Crimes Division recovered a revolver and 12 live rounds of ammunition — believed to have been brought into the country from abroad — concealed in a house in Mattakkuliya.
NewsFirst also reported the Sedawatta recovery on Friday, describing the weapon as locally manufactured and found concealed inside an abandoned house. Its report gives the suspect’s age as 28 and his address as Mattakkuliya, and lists the charges against him as aiding and abetting the assassination of Ganemulla Sanjeewa, possession of a hand grenade and drug trafficking. It repeats that he fled to Oman on 22 March 2025 on a fake passport.
The suspect remains in CCD custody under a detention order. Ada Derana’s latest report gives his age as 28, matching its first filing on August 18 rather than the 38 given in its second; NewsFirst’s Friday report independently gives 28, and both now agree on Mattakkuliya as his address.
Update (August 22): court told of alleged court-house reconnaissance
Separately, the Colombo Crimes Division told the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on Friday that the suspect — referred to as “Chathu of Mattakkuliya”, arrested in Oman under a Red Notice — is being held under a 90-day detention order, Hiru News reported.
The CCD said statements obtained from him indicate that on February 17, 2025 — days before Ganemulla Sanjeewa was shot dead in the Aluthkade court complex on February 19 — he and Ishara Sewwandi visited the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court and looked the building over. The division told the court they did so using money supplied by a man it named as “Kehelbaddara Padme”.
The disclosures came at a hearing on the wider Ganemulla Sanjeewa case, at which Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama further remanded Sewwandi and other suspects until September 4 and ordered a further report. Hiru said three suspects appeared in open court while the rest attended by video link from prison.
LankaNewz has not independently verified the allegations put to the court, which have not been tested at trial.
