Sri Lanka president reveals info on contract killers in army
In an unprecedented move the president, who also serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, has revealed that the underworld hires hitmen from the military.
This is the first time a Sri Lankan head of state has confirmed what many have feared; that the military is involved in extrajudicial killings.
Three days prior to this shocking revelation, the police had stated that the main suspect in the double murder in Mannar is an army soldier in active service.
The suspect who had aided and abetted the main suspect had been identified as a retired army member who is also a key suspect in a double murder that took place in 2023.
Joining a public meeting to celebrate the recent election victory, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had called Sri Lanka a ‘criminal state’. Explaining to the people the dangerous situation prevailing in the country, he had said that 73 automatic firearms belonging to the army had fallen into the hands of the underworld.
He had further said that almost half of those firearms had been seized by the authorities.
“I will tell you how dangerous the situation is in this country. Weapons belonging to military camps have come out. The underworld has got its hands on 73 T-56 firearms belonging to a certain military camp. Thus far, we have seized 38 of them, and we are searching for the remaining 35. This is how it has happened. A person who was arrested yesterday had been in possession of a T-56 firearm. He is a member of the Civil Security Department.”
President Dissanayake had further stressed that 13 military personnel involved with the underworld have already been arrested.
“We have a large, respected army. There are many who protect the honour of the army. However, while there is such a group, firearms belonging to the army have found their way into the underworld. That is the situation in the country. There are some in the military who carry out shootings for the underworld and return to the camp. 13 such persons have been arrested. What we have before us is that kind of a criminal state. Who can we trust and in what situations can we trust? The country has found itself in such a situation.”
Dissanayake, who was sworn in as the Executive President of Sri Lanka three months ago, vowed before the people of the Katukurunda area on 19 January that he would clean up the ‘criminal state’ under his rule and stressed that the underworld receives political backing.
“The situation is such that firearms belonging to camps have found their way into the underworld to be used for hire and with political protection. Not a lot, but a little more than a handful of members of the military, which consists of hundreds of thousands of personnel, go out of the camp, commit murders for hire, and come back to the camp. 13 persons have been arrested. This is the current situation in the country, and this country therefore is a criminal state. This is the kind of state where nothing can be trusted anywhere. We are in that kind of a state. We will clean this up one by one.”
Mannar double murders
According to information provided by the police with regard to several recent arrests, the shooters in a spate of murders that took place in the north and were suspected to have been carried out for hire are linked to the army.
On 20 January (Monday), Sri Lanka Police announced that the main suspect in the shooting incident that took place near the Mannar Magistrate's Court on 16 January leaving two dead has been arrested on 18 January in Kelaniya by a group of officers attached to the Madu Police Station.
The police further revealed that the suspect is a 34-year-old resident of Amandoluwa, Seeduwa, and is working as a medical assistant at the Army Hospital in Narahenpita.
Regional correspondents said that the individuals who died in the shooting are suspects in a case involving a clash between two parties, which took place in 2022 following a bullock cart race and resulted in the murders of two. They further reported that the deceased were 61-year-old Saveriyan Arul and 42-year-old Selvakumar Jude, both residents of Nochchikulam, Uyilankulam in Mannar.
However, although both were men, the police had reported that one of them was a woman.
The police announcement in this regard said that a key suspect who had aided and abetted the shooting that took place near the Magistrate's Court had been arrested in the Pesalai area on 18 January.
The suspect, who was arrested by a team of officers attached to the Pesalai Police Station, is a 38-year-old retired army sergeant from Kaikawala, Matale, and he had resided in the Kelaniya area temporarily.
According to the police announcement, interrogations and investigations have revealed that the suspect is the main suspect in the case involving the shooting of two persons to death with a pistol in the Adampan Police Division in Mollikandal on 24 August, 2023.
Regional correspondents explained that two siblings of the same family had been hacked to death as a result of a clash between two parties from the Uyilankulam and Nochchikulam areas. The clash had occurred during a bullock cart race on 8 July, 2022. Correspondents further explained that in retaliation, two persons had been shot dead in the Adampan Police Division in Mannar in August, 2023.
