Police have suspended the use of a plot of land and house valued at Rs. 44.5 million belonging to the wife of a drug trafficker, in a money laundering investigation.
The property is registered to the wife of Ranasinghe Arachchige Saman Kumara, alias “Ada”, NewsFirst reported. The action follows an investigation by the Police Illegal Assets Division.
What was frozen
The property is on Pahala Katuneriya Road and consists of 24.8 perches of land together with a house. Police said it was frozen under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Freezing orders of this kind suspend any dealing in the property — sale, transfer or mortgage — while investigators establish whether the asset was acquired with the proceeds of crime. They are an interim step, not a forfeiture: the property remains registered to its owner unless a court later orders otherwise.
Context
The Illegal Assets Investigation Division has been the main vehicle for a sustained push against criminal wealth this year, targeting property registered in the names of relatives and associates rather than the suspects themselves. Recent actions include the freezing of about Rs. 35 million in property linked to the organised crime figure “Loku Patty” — a plot and a two-storey house at Welipenna — in September.
What is not known
Police have not said when the property was acquired, what evidence connected it to drug trafficking proceeds, or whether Saman Kumara or his wife face charges in connection with the asset. Nor has it been stated whether either is in custody. No court date has been announced.
