Attack on prison guard: Suspects believed to have obtained insider-help

Investigations have revealed that the trio who recently attacked a prison guard of the Magazine New Remand Prison in Colombo had obtained help from another prison officer to carry out the attack.

This was allegedly discovered by the Homicide and Organized Crimes Division, which added that the suspects had reportedly videoed the assault of the warden, and sent it to ill-famed underworld gang member known as ‘Handaya’, who currently resides abroad.

Two individuals including a Captain of the Sri Lanka Army were arrested in Nuwara Eliya, with a T-56 firearm, two Browning pistols and 167 rounds of ammunition.

Upon being questioned, the suspects revealed that the attack was carried out on orders of underworld figure ‘Handaya’, adding that they had obtained the details of Marasinghe’s private residence from another prison guard.

Accordingly, three more persons believed to be involved in the incident and the van used for the attack were taken into police custody on 30 June.

On 12 May, Sankha Kusal Marasinghe, a prison guard of the Magazine New Remand Prison, was attacked by three unidentified persons at his private residence in Minuwangoda.

Accordingly, three unknown persons had broken into the said prison guard’s private residence in Minuwangoda and had him kneel on the floor, after which they had beaten the guard up while threatening his life.

As per a statement obtained from the guard, the police further stated that the suspects had attempted to bind the guard’s hands with zip-ties, however had later held a pistol to his head, threatening to kill him if he made any further attempts against the heroin trafficking rings within the prison.

They had also threatened him to refrain from reporting the matter to the police, vowing to ‘take care of the matter’ if he did so, the prison guard said, adding that one of the three had videoed the entire assault.

The prison guard had then lodged a complaint at the Minuwangoda Police, after which he was admitted to the Minuwangoda Hospital. He was, however, transferred to the Gampaha Hospital this afternoon (13 May) for further treatment.

Marasinghe was responsible for several successful raids within the prison, and received an award for the year 2018/2019 for seizing the most number of contraband items inside the Magazine New Remand Prison, police said, adding that they suspect this to be the motive behind the attack.