Dubai police have arrested the Sri Lankan organised crime suspect Gamage Saranga Pradeep, known as “Welle Saranga”, acting on intelligence handed over by Sri Lankan investigators who were in the emirate on a separate operation.
Cocaine and crystal methamphetamine, known locally as “ice”, were allegedly found in his possession at the time of the arrest, which took place at his residence in Dubai. Several other people were also reported to have been detained in the same operation.
Intelligence gathered on another case
The arrest is a by-product of the operation that brought back the organised crime suspect Lalith Kannangara, alias “Bus Lalith”, who was flown into Colombo on 25 August.
Senior Superintendent of Police Kamal Ariyawansa, who heads the Central Crime Investigation Bureau, travelled to Dubai for that operation together with an officer of the State Intelligence Service and an officer of the Criminal Investigation Department. While there, the team also gathered information on Saranga Pradeep.
The investigators passed everything they had collected to Dubai security authorities, who then mounted their own operation to locate him.
Ada Derana described SSP Ariyawansa’s unit as the Central Crime Investigation Division; the Daily Mirror and Hiru News both call it the Central Crime Investigation Bureau, the name used consistently in earlier reporting on the Bus Lalith case.
The allegations against him
Saranga Pradeep faces allegations of large-scale drug trafficking, with cannabis trafficking cited as one of the principal charges.
He is accused of shooting and killing a woman in Mutwal on 15 February 2018, allegedly because she had objected to drug activity in the area. He is separately accused of involvement in the abduction of a 15-year-old boy in Mattakkuliya on the same date.
Hiru News reported two further allegations that the other outlets did not carry: that he is suspected of planning the killing of a man known as “Aliwatte Asitha” in Mattakkuliya, and that he faces allegations over a murder committed in Wattala on 14 June 2022.
His earlier arrest record includes a detention by Foreshore Police in Mutwal on 30 May 2017 over alleged possession of a sharp weapon, an arrest by Bloemendhal Police on 20 April 2022 over a Russian-made firearm and two rounds of ammunition, and an arrest on 4 July 2017 over an alleged unlawful assembly in Mattakkuliya in which six houses and six three-wheelers were damaged.
He was taken into custody by Sri Lankan security authorities in 2020 while allegedly trying to leave the country illegally, and is reported to have later fled to Dubai.
What happens next
Hiru News reported that arrangements are under way to bring him back to Sri Lanka within the coming weeks. The Daily Mirror, however, said Sri Lankan authorities had not yet received official notification of the arrest from the relevant authorities in Dubai.
Kannangara’s own return took months and was settled only after a Dubai court ordered his deportation.
