Contract to kill informant whose tip-off led to Kirinda drug bust!
2026-02-24 - 05:46
An underworld suspect has been arrested over accepting a contract to kill the informant behind the seizure of a drug consignment worth Rs. 3.5 billion at Kirinda Beach. According to the ‘Divaina’ newspaper, the suspect had accepted the contract to carry out the murder and to place the victim’s severed head in front of the residence of former Director of the Western Province North Crime Division – ASP Rohan Olugala. The report states that although the suspect has been in the custody of the Western Province North Crime Division for 11 days, a proper investigation into the incident has yet to be conducted. The arrested suspect has reportedly confessed that instructions had been issued to carry out the operation during the period when ASP Olugala was hospitalised recently. He further claimed that the contract had been assigned by an underworld leader carrying out operations from the Angoda area, while said to be hiding in Dubai. Investigations have revealed that the drug consignment seized at Kirinda Beach a few months ago by the Western Province North Crime Division had allegedly belonged to this same underworld leader. The underworld leader is said to have harboured strong resentment following the seizure of the shipment and had attempted to identify the person who tipped off ASP Olugala. Accordingly, the underworld figure had reportedly sent a member of an Army Intelligence Unit to the informant’s residence to gather details about him. Upon learning that the underworld gang was searching for information about him, the informant later abandoned his home. After collecting details, the underworld leader had allegedly assigned the relevant contract to an organized criminal gang, including the suspect who is currently in custody. The group had reportedly been instructed to disguise themselves as police officers and travel in a vehicle resembling a police jeep in order to abduct the informant and gun him down. They have been further instructed to place the informant’s severed head in front of ASP Olugala’s residence, In a bid to intimidate police officers and informants. Meanwhile, following a tip-off regarding the suspect’s whereabouts, a police team operating under the supervision of Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Western Province North Division – Kalinga Jayasinghe, arrested him while he was hiding in Ratnapura. A few months ago, officers including ASP Olugala and Chief Inspector Linton Silva, carried out the operation that led to the seizure of 350 kg of narcotics at Kirinda Beach. During that raid, 07 suspects and 06 vehicles that had arrived to transport the drugs were also taken into custody. 02 boats used to bring the drugs ashore were later seized by police. The narcotics were intercepted while they were being packaged and floated in the open sea before being transported to land. Police also arrested the individual who had swum ashore carrying the packages containing the drugs. Related News : Six arrested with 300kg of narcotics in Kirinda Kirinda drug haul linked to ‘Angoda Lokka’ & ‘Dematagoda Chaminda’? ASP Olugala hospitalised