The Illegal Assets Investigation Division has temporarily suspended the use of a luxury SUV bought by drug trafficker Jayasinghe Arachchige Hemantha, known as ‘Bathala Heen Mahaththaya’, and registered under his son’s name, NewsFirst reported on Wednesday.
The vehicle is valued at Rs. 35 million. The suspension order runs for 14 days.
Property worth Rs. 180 million belonging to the trafficker has already been frozen, and the court has ordered that restriction extended.
The pattern behind the order
The 14-day term is not arbitrary. It is the standard duration of a restraining order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which investigators renew through the courts while they build the asset-forfeiture case — the same mechanism used in the Rs. 100 million freeze on an associate of Shiran Basik earlier this month and in the Rs. 150 million suspension over Embilipitiya drug properties.
Registering a vehicle in a relative’s name is the specific conduct the Division exists to unwind. Sri Lanka Police reported in August that it had moved to confiscate Rs. 1,104 million in illegally acquired assets across its caseload.
The name has come before the courts before. NewsFirst reported in June 2025 that property belonging to the trafficker’s wife had been frozen by court order, and in July 2025 that investigators had found a bank balance of Rs. 1.75 billion in her accounts. Those reports are outside the window for citation here and are offered as background only; NewsFirst’s Wednesday report does not refer to them.
Not reported
NewsFirst does not name the son, give the make or model of the vehicle, say when it was bought or with what funds, or state which court issued the order. It does not say what the Rs. 180 million in already-frozen property consists of, when that freeze was imposed, or how long the extension runs.
It does not say where Bathala Heen Mahaththaya is — whether in custody, on bail or at large — or whether he or his son faces charges arising from the vehicle purchase. No comment from either is reported.
No other verified newsroom had filed on the suspension at the time of writing. The Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing and Hiru News’ English listing both carried no item on it, and this account therefore rests on a single source.
