A man police describe as the cash collector for the drug trafficker Salindu Malshitha Gunaratne, known as “Panadura Kudu Salindu”, was arrested with his wife at Ratmalana Airport Junction on Thursday night, Hiru News reported and NewsFirst reported.
Officers of the Mount Lavinia Headquarters Police seized Rs. 6.3 million in cash, 15,055 milligrams of heroin — about 15 grams — a cash-counting machine, an electronic scale and a scooter-type motorcycle.
How the stop happened
Acting on information received by the Mount Lavinia Headquarters Chief Inspector, police stopped a three-wheeler travelling from Airport Junction towards Galle Road. A woman was in the rear seat.
The driver’s licence identified him as a resident of Alubomulla, Panadura. Hiru reports that his manner during questioning prompted a search, which turned up the drugs. Officers then examined a supermarket bag the woman was carrying and found the cash inside it.
Under questioning the pair said they were husband and wife, aged 26 and 34, and that they distributed drugs and collected money for Kudu Salindu. The suspect said Salindu paid him a salary of Rs. 150,000 a month.
They told police they had been renting a house in the Hadagama area of Piliyandala for about two years. A search there produced the counting machine and the electronic scale. Both are being held under detention orders for further questioning.
A quantity worth checking
The two outlets do not agree on how much was seized. Hiru gives 15,055 milligrams; NewsFirst reports “15 milligrams of heroin” — a hundredth of a gram, which would be far too little to support a distribution charge and is almost certainly a dropped figure rather than a genuine difference. Hiru does not name the substance, describing it only as drugs; NewsFirst identifies it as heroin. Taken together, the seizure is best read as roughly 15 grams of heroin.
The network
Kudu Salindu has been the subject of a series of operations this year. Two associates were arrested in Payagala with 90 grams of Ice in April, and police have moved against the network’s finances, freezing Rs. 40 million in assets and property held by female suspects.
The prosecutions themselves have run into difficulty. In September, ten Panadura Magistrate’s Court employees were questioned after two case files against Kudu Salindu — one a murder file, the other a CID money laundering file — disappeared from the court archives.
Not reported
Neither outlet names the couple, says whether either has previous convictions, or explains how long the cash collection had been running or how much had passed through the operation. Neither says where Salindu himself is, whether the Rs. 6.3 million was a single collection or accumulated takings, or when the pair are due in court.
