Four individuals including the sister of underworld drug trafficker ‘Kudu Anju’ arrested over an attempt to celebrate the death of another underworld figure ‘Ratmalane Roha’, have been remanded.
The arrestees were produced at the Mount Lavinia District Court earlier today (25) and were ordered to be remanded until September 28.
Dewamuni Harold Rohana de Silva also known as ‘Ratmalane Roha’ was killed in a shootout with the police at Kochchikade in Negombo on Wednesday night (23), in an attempt to flee to India in a trawler.
After the death of ‘Ratmalane Roha’, infamous gangster Amal Sinhara alias ‘Kudu Anju’, who now operates his drug network from Italy, had published several posts on his Facebook account, threatening to kill anyone who attends the funeral of ‘Ratmalane Roha’. He also warned not to bring the slain criminal gang member’s remains home. However, the account has since been removed.
Subsequently, Police warned stern action against those who celebrate the death of the slain underworld figure.
However, four including the sister of ‘Kudu Anju’ were arrested for preparing to celebrate the death of ‘Ratmalane Roha’ at the Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia General Cemetery, where the brother of ‘Kudu Anju’, ‘Lansiya’, is buried.
One of the arrestees had also kept contact with ‘Kudu Anju’ via WhatsApp while the other two had come to assist with the drones, the Police said.
Reportedly, the arrestees had planned to shower the grave of ‘Lansiya’ with flowers using drones to celebrate the death of ‘Ratmalane Roha’.
‘Ratmalane Roha’ had been wanted by the police over several murders including that of criminal gang member Suresh Asanka de Silva alias ‘Lansiya’. Following, the murder of ‘Lansiya’, the feud between the infamous gangster Amal Sinhara alias ‘Kudu Anju’ and ‘Ratmalane Roha’ had escalated up a notch.
‘Ratmalane Roha’ was also the main suspect in shooting two police officers to death in 2016 at the Maspotha area in Kurunegala.
His funeral was held this evening (26) at the Angulana General Cemetery amidst police security. Police stated that steps were taken to deploy Special Task Force (STF) personnel if needed.
