A man identified as the father of an alleged organised-crime figure known as “Sando” was shot and wounded inside the Nisala Sevana Public Cemetery in Mount Lavinia on the afternoon of Sunday, July 19.
According to police, the shooting occurred at around 3.25 p.m., when two individuals wearing helmets rode into the Dehiwala–Mount Lavinia public cemetery on a scooter-type motorcycle, opened fire on the victim and fled the scene.
The victim, a resident of Oban Place in Dehiwala, sustained gunshot injuries to his left arm and chest. He was admitted to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila for treatment. Preliminary investigations indicate that a 9mm firearm was used in the attack.
The targeting of a relative of an alleged underworld figure fits a pattern of gun violence linked to organised-crime rivalries that has prompted repeated police crackdowns in the Colombo suburbs. Investigators are reviewing the circumstances of the shooting and working to identify the two assailants, who escaped on the motorcycle.
Police have stepped up operations against organised-crime networks in recent months, including firearms seizures and arrests, amid concern over contract shootings carried out by helmeted attackers on motorcycles.
Update (August 2): gunman arrested in Mihintale
Police have arrested the man alleged to have carried out the shooting, tracing him to a house in the Ambatalagama area of Mihintale where he had been hiding.
The arrest was made by the Western Province South Crime Division, which had been investigating the case. Officers first detained the rider of the motorcycle used to bring the gunmen to the cemetery, and his questioning led them to the gunman’s location, Hiru News reported. A woman was arrested alongside him — described by police as 35 years old — and officers recovered a handbag containing a concealed firearm and two mobile phones.
The suspect is a 44-year-old former soldier who left the Sri Lanka Army’s Special Forces in 2015, according to Ada Derana and Aruna. Police said he had been held in remand custody over a separate shooting in 2025 and was released on bail on July 13 — six days before the cemetery attack.
Accounts differ on how much he was paid. Ada Derana and Aruna both report that he received Rs. 280,000, while Hiru News puts the figure at Rs. 200,000. The outlets also differ on who commissioned the attack: Ada Derana and Aruna attribute it to an alleged underworld figure known as “Kos Malli,” while Hiru reports that it was orchestrated jointly by “Kos Malli” and Avishka Eshan, alias “Kaluboowila Avishka,” both described as alleged organised-crime figures and large-scale drug traffickers.
Under questioning, the suspect said he and another man had come to the cemetery on the morning of July 19 posing as mourners lighting a lamp at a grave, Hiru reported. Their target was not there at the time, so they returned that evening and carried out the shooting.
Aruna reported that the suspect is to be produced at an identification parade. Ada Derana described the victim as the father of “Sando,” who it said is believed to be hiding overseas; Hiru additionally reported that he worked as a security guard at the cemetery.
