Seventeen Special Task Force teams have been deployed specifically against organised crime and underworld activity, Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament on Friday.
Wijepala said special operations are being carried out with international law enforcement agencies to bring back criminal figures who are directing organised crime and drug trafficking operations from overseas, NewsFirst reported.
The pattern he described
Addressing concerns over recent shootings and violent crime, the minister said many of the killings reported across the country originate in escalating conflicts between underworld groups and rival drug trafficking networks. He said the government’s primary objective remains protecting the public and disrupting the networks behind the violence.
A significant obstacle for investigators, he said, is that many of the people orchestrating crimes in Sri Lanka are operating from foreign countries, beyond the reach of domestic law enforcement. He said the government has taken the measures necessary to bring those individuals back to face justice, and that mechanisms to identify, arrest and prosecute those directing criminal operations have been strengthened.
Context
The statement lands in the same parliamentary week as several related threads. An SJB MP questioned why alleged bribe-givers are interviewed overseas while alleged recipients are arrested and produced in court. Wijepala himself gave Parliament the two-year drug raid arrest figures earlier in the week. Separately, the Human Rights Commission has written to the Justice Minister raising concerns about the Prevention of Organised Crime Bill now before Parliament.
Not reported
The minister did not name any of the individuals said to be directing operations from abroad, identify the countries involved, say which foreign agencies are cooperating, or state how many people have been returned to Sri Lanka under these operations so far. No figures were given for the results of the 17 STF teams.
No other verified newsroom had filed its own account of these remarks at the time of writing.
