Sri Lanka Police are preparing to bring back another 89 Sri Lankans wanted under Interpol Red Notices who remain in hiding abroad, Police Media Spokesman Assistant Superintendent of Police F. U. Wootler said on Thursday, as he announced that eight more suspects had been repatriated from the United Arab Emirates the previous night.
The eight had been detained in Dubai and Sharjah and were flown back through what Wootler described as an intelligence-led operation. Three are alleged to belong to a gang with “close ties” to organised criminals and to have continued committing offences in Sri Lanka while operating from abroad. Two are accused of large-scale drug trafficking and three of other crimes committed in Sri Lanka, he said.
Wootler said the latest arrivals follow the 21 suspects flown back from the UAE on May 22, among them organised-crime figures Kudu Duminda and Mahawatte Chamara, who both carried Red Notices. The 21 — 19 men and two women — are being investigated by specialist units of the police.
Across 2024, 2025 and 2026, Sri Lanka Police have brought back 32 suspects under the Red Notice mechanism and a further 70 wanted suspects through other international channels, Wootler said. “We will not allow anyone who commits crimes in this country to flee to different countries, evade justice, and continue criminal activities while in hiding,” he added. “We are fully prepared to act on 89 more Red Notices, and we will bring back the remaining 89 suspects who were involved in crimes with various countries.”
The disclosure is the most granular accounting yet of the police’s overseas-fugitive pipeline since Wootler represented Sri Lanka Police at the Interpol General Assembly in Lyon this month, where cross-border drug and crime cooperation was a central theme. It comes alongside the parallel domestic enforcement drive under Operation Rata Ekata, which has logged 156,456 arrests and 1,917 kg of heroin seized in its first six months. The eight latest deportees are a distinct cohort from the seven Sri Lankans deported from Abu Dhabi this week over allegations of holding and circulating war footage on social media; that group is being questioned by the CID, SIS and Police Narcotics Bureau.
