Police have found 2,078 undelivered letters hidden under the bed of a postman in Haldummulla, where they had allegedly been kept for more than six years.
The discovery was made during a raid on the suspect’s home at Harankahawa, Soragune, on 20 October, the Daily Mirror reported at 7.00 p.m. on Wednesday.
The raid was not looking for post. Officers went to the house on information that the occupant was allegedly involved in the illegal sale of liquor. Searching for illicit alcohol, they found a bag under a bed containing 2,065 ordinary letters and 13 registered letters.
Haldummulla Police said the 42-year-old suspect is attached to the Soragune Sub-Post Office.
Why the registered letters matter most
The 13 registered items are the part of the count with the clearest consequences. Registered post is paid for precisely because it is tracked and signed for, and it is the channel used in Sri Lanka for court summonses, examination documents, bank and insurance correspondence, pension paperwork and official notices.
An ordinary letter that never arrives is a private loss. A registered letter that never arrives can mean a hearing missed, a deadline passed or a benefit unclaimed — by someone who was never told.
Six years, and an accidental discovery
The two details that give the case its weight are the duration and the manner of discovery.
If the alleged six-year period is borne out, the letters accumulated across roughly the full span of a sub-post office round without the shortfall being detected by any audit, complaint process or supervisory check. Nothing in the report indicates the Department of Posts identified the problem; it surfaced because police were looking for something else entirely.
That lands against a service the government has said it is modernising — this desk reported in October on the postal service digitisation programme targeted for 2027, and on the restoration of the Nuwara Eliya post office. Digitisation addresses the handling of new mail. It does not by itself create a check that would catch a letter removed from the round by the person carrying it.
Not reported
The report does not say whether the suspect has been charged, whether he remains employed, what became of the illicit liquor inquiry that prompted the raid, or — the question that matters most to the recipients — whether the 2,078 letters will now be delivered. It does not give the date range the letters span, or say whether the Department of Posts has begun its own inquiry. No other verified newsroom located by this desk had filed on the discovery at the time of writing.