The Police Special Task Force has seized more than a kilogramme of heroin along with a firearm and military ammunition in a raid in Matara, and one newsroom has tied the operation to the network of an alleged organised criminal whose brother was arrested in Dubai last week.
Officers from the STF’s Gonahena Camp carried out the raid on Saturday (5) acting on information received, Ada Derana reported. The suspects were stopped while allegedly transporting heroin on a motorcycle, which was taken into custody.
What was seized
Ada Derana put the haul at 1 kilogram and 9 grams of heroin, with a further 205 grams recovered — a combined 1,214g. Hiru News reported the same total as a single figure of 1kg 214g, so the two accounts agree exactly on quantity.
A repeater-type firearm was also recovered, which Ada Derana said was found in a room where one of the suspects had been staying, together with 56 rounds of T-56 ammunition and 47 pistol rounds. Hiru gave the ammunition as 51 rounds of T-56 and 47 rounds of 9mm — a five-round discrepancy on the assault-rifle ammunition that neither outlet flags.
The accounts differ on how many were held
Ada Derana and Hiru both report two suspects. NewsFirst reported three, filing about fifteen minutes later. The outlets also place the raid differently: Ada Derana in the Wellamulla area of Matara, NewsFirst in Na Wimana.
Ada Derana alone gave the suspects’ details — aged 24 and 25, residents of the Matara area, and said by police to be linked to other criminal activity. They were handed over to Matara Police, which is continuing the investigation.
The Dubai connection
Hiru was the only outlet to place the raid in a wider context, reporting that it followed an extensive investigation connected to the brother of Shehan Sathsara, alias “Dehibale Malli”, an alleged organised criminal and drug trafficker. Neither Ada Derana nor NewsFirst mentions that link.
On the record established by three newsrooms last week, that brother is Patabendige Thushan Nethsara, 25, known as “Kalu Malli”, who was arrested in Dubai on 1 September on an Interpol Red Notice over murders alleged in the Southern Province — the province in which Matara sits. Hiru’s sentence construction leaves it ambiguous whether it is Sathsara or his brother who was recently detained in Dubai; the reporting to date points to the brother.
That case followed the detention of the underworld figure known as “Welle Saranga” in Dubai on 30 August.
