Three organised-crime suspects brought home from Malaysia as Sri Lankan authorities increasingly pursue alleged underworld figures beyond the country’s borders
COLOMBO, Monday – The return to Sri Lanka on Monday of three alleged organised-crime suspects arrested in Malaysia has again highlighted the increasingly international character of the country’s battle against its underworld, as law-enforcement authorities pursue suspects who have sought refuge and operated beyond Sri Lankan territory.
Among those brought back was Danushka Kaushalya, better known as “Ratmalana Saima,” who has been identified by authorities as an alleged organised-crime figure. The three suspects had been arrested in Malaysia before arrangements were made for their return to Sri Lanka on Monday.
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The development follows a series of operations in which suspects wanted in connection with serious crimes in Sri Lanka have been located overseas and returned to the country. One of the most prominent was Ishara Sewwandi, who was arrested in Nepal during a joint operation involving Sri Lankan Police and Nepalese security authorities after being sought over the killing of alleged underworld figure Ganemulla Sanjeewa inside the Hulftsdorp Magistrate’s Court complex.
Sewwandi was on Monday further remanded until August 21 by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court, keeping attention on one of the most audacious killings associated with Sri Lanka’s recent organised-crime wave the shooting of a man inside a court complex while he was in custody.
The overseas arrests raise a wider and potentially more important question than the fate of individual suspects. For years, Sri Lankan law-enforcement authorities have maintained that significant figures involved in narcotics trafficking and organised crime have directed operations from outside the country, exploiting foreign jurisdictions, communications technology and networks of associates at home.
If the recent arrests represent a sustained improvement in international police and intelligence cooperation, the assumption that leaving Sri Lanka provides effective protection from prosecution may be becoming considerably less certain.
That would be an important development. Arresting gunmen and narcotics couriers operating at street level can disrupt individual criminal operations, but it does not necessarily dismantle organisations whose leadership, financing and instructions may originate thousands of kilometres away. The effectiveness of the present campaign will therefore ultimately depend upon whether investigators can move upwards through those networks rather than repeatedly replacing one arrested operative with another.
Events at home demonstrate why that distinction matters. Even as suspects are being returned from overseas, gun violence associated with alleged underworld rivalries continues to present a serious challenge to law enforcement.
Another fatal shooting was reported in Maligawatte on Monday, providing a stark reminder that repatriating wanted suspects does not by itself dismantle the networks through which organised crime operates.
The Government’s broader anti-narcotics campaign has placed considerable emphasis upon arrests and enforcement.
The international dimension now deserves equal attention. The public should know how overseas suspects are being traced, what arrangements exist with foreign law-enforcement agencies and whether financial investigations are following the money generated by narcotics and organised crime.
Ultimately, the measure of success will not be the number of alleged underworld figures photographed arriving under guard at Bandaranaike International Airport. It will be whether their return enables investigators to expose the structures, financiers and decision-makers behind the violence.
And, be that as it may, an underworld that has increasingly operated without borders requires law enforcement capable of doing precisely the same.
