A high-security prison within the Welisara Navy base has succeeded in cutting off mobile-phone access for the country’s most feared underworld inmates, breaking their ability to run organised crime from behind bars, official sources told The Island.
The government decided late last year to set up a dedicated facility for prisoners who had repeatedly defeated security procedures at regular jails. Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara issued an extraordinary gazette notification on 1 January 2026 establishing the prison under Section 2 of the Prisons Ordinance (Chapter 54). The Navy had previously used the site to detain personnel who were absent without leave.
Nine men have been moved to the facility so far. Among them are ‘Wele Suda’, ‘Dematagoda Chaminda’, ‘Loku Patty’, ‘Midigama Ruwan’, ‘Backhoe Saman’, ‘Army Sampath’ and ‘Manna Ramesh’ — names long associated with narcotics, contract killings and extortion networks operating out of mainstream prisons. Some of the detainees had been extradited from countries where they had been living as fugitives.
Sources said that despite layered security at other prisons, smuggled mobile phones had repeatedly turned up in cells with assistance from inside collaborators, allowing detainees to direct hits, drug deals and intimidation. The Welisara setup, run by the Justice and National Integration Ministry inside a Navy perimeter, appears to have closed that channel.
The Welisara facility was opened in April with an initial transfer of seven gang members from other prisons. The latest report is the first operational read on whether the model is working roughly a month after launch. The shutdown of inside-prison command lines lands as police continue large-scale crackdowns on transnational cyber-fraud rings and as the CID processes high-profile drug-network suspects extradited from the Gulf.
