Police offer cash rewards for information provided on illegal firearms, organized criminals

Sri Lanka Police have decided to offer cash prizes to individuals who provide information about illegal firearms used by organized criminal gang members.

In parallel to the ongoing ‘Yukthiya’ exercise to eradicate drug distribution initiated in late December 2023, the police launched a special police operation on March 19 in a bid to crack down on organized crimes.

Accordingly, 20 special police teams – each consisting of nine personnel including one Crimes OIC, four intelligence officers and two Special Task Force (STF) personnel – were deployed in Western Province and Galle District.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has decided to award crash prizes to any individual who tip the police off on firearms and organized criminal gang members.

In addition, as many as 46 contact numbers were also introduced for the members of the public to provide relevant information.

The police also assured to keep informants’ identities confidential.

Thereby, Rs. 500,000 is offered to tip-offs about automatic firearms such as T56, AK47, M16, SAR80 and T81. For information on semi-automatic firearms including 84S, SLR, auto loading shotguns, a cash prize of Rs. 300,000 is offered.

Full details of the cash rewards offered by the police are as follows: