Prison officers at Kalutara fired into the air on Wednesday when a man outside the walls tried to throw a package into the grounds. It contained a mobile phone and several SIM cards.
The man was attempting to throw something resembling a ball over the wall when officers opened fire into the air, Hiru News reported at 10.16 p.m. He fled and was not apprehended. The object he was attempting to throw was a mobile phone together with a number of SIM cards.
No one was reported injured.
What the contents indicate
The detail that distinguishes this from an ordinary contraband attempt is the SIM cards — plural — accompanying a single handset.
A phone smuggled for personal use needs one SIM. Several SIM cards supplied with one device is the configuration used to change numbers, which defeats monitoring based on a known number and allows a single handset to be used by more than one person or for more than one purpose. It is the difference between a prisoner wanting to call home and a communications capability being supplied.
That is an inference from the contents, not a finding. Hiru does not say who the package was intended for, whether any prisoner has been questioned, or whether investigators have examined the SIM cards.
The “ball” and the throw
The package was shaped to resemble a ball, which is the standard method: a wrapped bundle can be thrown over a perimeter wall with some accuracy and is intended to be picked up in the yard by whoever is waiting for it.
Two things follow that no filing states. A throw of this kind generally implies someone on the inside expecting it at that time and place — and the fact that officers were in position to see and respond suggests the perimeter was being watched. Neither point is reported, and neither is asserted here as fact.
Firing into the air is a warning discharge rather than fire directed at a person, and the outcome — the man escaping unhurt — is consistent with that.
Not reported
Hiru’s filing is two sentences long and leaves nearly everything open.
It does not say when the incident occurred, only when it was reported. It does not say how many officers fired or how many rounds were discharged, whether the package landed inside the prison or was recovered outside, or whether the phone and SIM cards were seized.
It does not report any description of the man, whether police were called, whether an investigation has been opened, or whether the Prisons Department has issued a statement. It does not say whether any prisoner is suspected of arranging the delivery, or whether there have been previous attempts at this prison.
On sourcing. This is a single-source report from one verified newsroom. No other verified outlet had filed on the incident at the time of writing. Mobile phones are among the most commonly intercepted items in Sri Lankan prisons, and incidents of this scale are frequently carried by one outlet only; this desk has previously reported a separate contraband seizure at the same prison in August, which was a different incident involving different contraband and is not connected to this one.
Source: Hiru News (Sinhala).