A 54-year-old man wanted under an Interpol Red Notice issued by India, and who had been missing from a Sri Lankan court case for about a year, was arrested in Wadduwa in the early hours of Wednesday, police said.
Officers of the Mount Lavinia Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau made the arrest and produced the suspect at the Mount Lavinia police station. Hiru News describes him as a fisherman and says a mobile phone was taken into custody with him.
The Marawila case
Both accounts agree on the sequence that made him a fugitive at home. After being produced before the Marawila Magistrate’s Court, he was remanded and later released on bail — and subsequently escaped while in the custody of prison officers during a court appearance. Hiru puts the gap between that escape and this week’s arrest at roughly a year.
Investigators found he had been living under addresses in the Angulana and Wadduwa areas, which led officers to him.
The Indian case
Newswire reports that the suspect was originally detained by the Indian Navy while allegedly transporting 337 kilograms of heroin to India by sea, was imprisoned in Kochi, escaped there as well, and returned to Sri Lanka by boat. He was then arrested in Wennappuwa, which brought him before the Marawila court.
Hiru’s filing does not mention the Indian Navy interception, the quantity of heroin or the Kochi escape, confirming only that an Indian Red Notice was outstanding against him. Those details rest on Newswire’s account alone.
Police said steps are being taken under extradition law to hand the suspect to Indian authorities.
Conflicting detail
The two reports differ on where he was picked up. Newswire says he was hiding in a rented house in Wadduwa; Hiru says the arrest was made near the Wadduwa railway station. Neither outlet names the suspect, and no court date for the revived Marawila proceedings has been reported.
