Employees fought off two men who attempted to rob a liquor store at Anuradhapura Junction in Trincomalee on Friday night, and police have since arrested two suspects, Hiru News reported.
Two raiders arrived on a motorcycle and tried to leave with stolen cash. Staff resisted and recovered the cash bag, seizing one of the men in the process.
At that point the second man, carrying a firearm, fired at the employees and missed. Both then fled on the motorcycle along Anuradhapura Road.
Acting quickly, police arrested two suspects in connection with the robbery at a lodging in the Mihindupura area during an emergency search. Investigations are continuing.
The timing, from the store’s own cameras
Hiru puts the attack at around 9.45 p.m. on Thursday 18 September. The CCTV still published with its report carries its own timestamp: 09-18-2026, Friday, 21:31:21.
Two things follow. The camera clock reads 9.31 p.m., about fourteen minutes before the time given in the text — so either the incident ran for some minutes before the men fled, or one of the two times is approximate. And the camera’s own day stamp says Friday, which is correct for 18 September 2026; Hiru’s “yesterday (18)” in a Saturday filing agrees with it.
The frame also settles what “a firearm” means here. The man standing away from the counter is holding a longarm — a shoulder weapon rather than a pistol — which is consistent with a shot fired inside a small retail room that missed staff at close range.
An account that does not quite hold together
Hiru’s own text contains a contradiction worth flagging rather than resolving.
It says employees “managed to catch one robber along with the cash bag”, and then two sentences later that “both robbers subsequently fled on the motorcycle.” Both cannot be straightforwardly true.
The likeliest reading is that staff seized the cash bag and briefly held one man, who broke free when his accomplice fired — which would make the shot covering fire for an escape rather than an attempt to kill. But Hiru does not say that, and the report should not be read as establishing it.
What is not in doubt is that the money stayed at the shop and both men left without it.
Two men fled, two men arrested — but not necessarily the same two
Police arrested two suspects at a Mihindupura lodging during an emergency search. Hiru does not state that these are the two who fled the shop, only that they were arrested “in connection with the robbery.”
Nor does it say whether the firearm was recovered, which is the material question in a case where a shot was fired in a public place.
Not reported
Hiru gives no names or ages for either the suspects or the employees, does not say how much cash was involved, and does not say whether anyone was injured.
It does not report the time of the arrests or how police were led to the Mihindupura lodging, whether the motorcycle was traced or recovered, whether the weapon was found, or what charges the two men face. It does not say whether the shot struck the premises, or whether the CCTV footage has been taken into evidence.
