The four suspects remanded in connection with attack on a van by a group of VIP bodyguards at Kalagedihena will be produced at an identification parade tomorrow (July 22).
The suspects, who were taken into custody after they surrendered to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD), were remanded by the order of the Attanagalla Magistrate’s Court by the CCD yesterday (20).
The driver of the Defender involved in the incident and another person had surrendered to the CCD on the 19th July while another two suspects had surrendered on separate occasions within yesterday.
They were identified as Gamini Wijesuriya and Geeth Prasanna Bandara by the police.
An individual identified as Marcus Peter had surrendered this morning while another suspect, Sandun Pushpakumara also surrendered last afternoon. They were both reportedly passengers of the Defender when the incident had taken place.
Meanwhile, police found the Defender vehicle, involved in the attack, at a residence in Maharagama.
The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana Wickremaratne directed the CCD to investigate into the incident.
A video recorded on a mobile phone had been widely circulated on social media recently depicting a group of individuals, dressed in white shirts and believed to be VIP security officers, arriving in a white Defender and Prado and attacking a van in the middle of the road at Kalagedihena on the Colombo-Kandy main road.
The driver of the van said that the two vehicles in question came from behind him at high speeds and blocked his vehicle in the middle of the road before several individuals in white shirts got out of the vehicles and attacked his van door demanding that he step out.
He also said that they were dressed in clothing similar to VIP security personnel and that there were two other individuals sitting in the backseat of the Prado.
The incident was captured on a mobile phone by one of the passengers inside the van while the footage also shows the license plates (CAG-0550/CAD-8850) of the two vehicles involved.
Ada Derana learns that the Prado (CAG-0550) is registered under the name of Dinesh Nuwan Amaratunga from Ingiriya while the Defender (CAD-8850) is registered under a certain Udam Indula Sampath Bandara Amaratunga also from Ingiriya.
