A man held under a detention order over a drug offence has been identified as an accomplice in the fatal shooting of a woman in the Middeniya Police Division, and a second suspect has been arrested, police said.
The 21-year-old, a resident of Middeniya, was arrested on August 19 in possession of ‘Ice’ — crystal methamphetamine — and held at the Middeniya Police Station under a detention order for questioning. During that questioning, investigators found he had aided and abetted the shooting and killing of a woman in the division on August 12, according to Ada Derana.
He was produced before the Walasmulla Magistrate’s Court on Sunday and remanded until September 2.
A second man, a 24-year-old from the Middeniya area, was arrested on Sunday by officers of the Tangalle Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau and handed over to Middeniya Police over the same alleged role. Middeniya Police are continuing their investigations.
The August 12 shooting
Ada Derana did not name the victim, but the date, the location and the circumstances match the killing of the mother of the underworld figure known as ‘Backhoe Saman’, who was shot at Ulhitiyawa in Middeniya on the evening of August 12 by two men who arrived on a motorcycle and fled. She was taken to hospital and died of her injuries.
Police said at the time that they suspected the attack was carried out in revenge for the murder of another organised crime figure, Ganemulla Sanjeewa, with the gunmen and the weapon supplied by a faction linked to a figure known as ‘Karandeniya Sudda’, believed to be overseas. The motorcycle used in the attack was recovered abandoned near Urubokka.
These are the first arrests reported in the case. Neither the gunmen nor anyone alleged to have organised the shooting has been reported detained, and police have not said what role the two men are accused of playing. ‘Backhoe Saman’, who is held at the Boossa high-security prison, declined to attend his mother’s funeral.
At the time of writing, on Monday morning, no other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own report of the arrests — Daily Mirror, NewsFirst and Hiru had all filed nothing new since Sunday evening.
