A woman wanted under an Interpol Red Notice over a triple murder in Middeniya has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates and brought back to Sri Lanka, police said on Tuesday.

Anusha Lakmali, known as ‘Achini’, is suspected of involvement in the killing of Aruna Vidanagamage, 39, known as ‘Kajja’, and his two children. The three were shot dead near Kadewatta Junction in Middeniya in February 2025.

Both the Daily Mirror and Hiru News, reporting the police account, say she was detained in the Emirates and has since been returned to the island.

A contract killing, police say

Investigators found the shooting was allegedly carried out as a contract killing for Rs. 500,000, according to the Daily Mirror, with part of that money reportedly traced to accounts linked to suspects in the plot.

Anusha Lakmali left the country after the killings. Sri Lankan authorities then sought international help to find and detain her, and an Interpol Red Notice was issued in her name — the mechanism that led to the arrest in the UAE.

A Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant. It is a request to police forces worldwide to locate and provisionally detain a person pending extradition or a similar legal process, and it is for each country to decide what action to take.

A different Middeniya case

Middeniya has appeared in this desk’s reporting before, in a separate matter. In August 2026 the mother of the underworld figure known as ‘Backhoe Saman’ was shot dead in the same police division, and two men were later held over that attack. That is a distinct killing roughly 18 months after the one at Kadewatta Junction, and neither filing connects the two.

Not reported

Neither outlet gives the date of the arrest in the UAE, the date she was flown back, or which authority carried out the transfer. Neither says whether she has been produced in court, which court, or what she is to be charged with. The ages of the two children are not given, the motive behind the alleged contract is not stated, and no filing says who is alleged to have ordered or paid for the killings, or how many other suspects are in custody. Neither account names the investigating unit.

Note that Hiru’s English headline says she “will be brought” to Sri Lanka; its Sinhala text, like the Daily Mirror’s, says she has already been brought back.

Sources