Suspect arrested over murder of “Maskade Kaluwa” in Ratmalana
August 25, 2023 03:02 pm
A youth has been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting the murder of a meat shop owner near the Ratmalana railway station.
The police also found 10 grams of heroin on the 28-year-old who was arrested last night (Aug. 24) in Mount Lavinia.
The arrestee, reportedly a resident of Ratmalana area, will be produced before the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court later today.
Mount Lavinia Police is conducting further investigations.
At around 9:18 p.m. on Monday (Aug. 21), the owner of a meat shop located in front of the Ratmalana railway station was gunned down by two gunmen who had arrived on a motorcycle.
Seriously injured 40-year-old Sinhara Anura Deshapriya alias “Maskade Kaluwa” was rushed to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila, where he was pronounced dead soon afterward.
The father-of-two was later identified as a close associate of a local drug dealer who goes by the alias “Saiman”. It was also reported that he had a beef with a drug dealer operating under the alias “Welle Sudda”.
After learning that he had received death threats from underworld members several times, the police said suspicions were rife that “Kudu Anju” and his gang had a hand in the murder of “Maskade Kaluwa.”
The motorcycle on which the gunmen arrived was later found abandoned near a canal in Keselhenawa area of Anguruwathota, with its chassis number and the engine serial number scratched out.
