The authorities in Sri Lanka have launched a massive crackdown on organized criminal syndicates as crime continues to soar at a frightening rate, senior police officials said.
From the start of this year some 50 persons have been killed in gang violence that include contract killings and the bulk of it has been attributed to turf battles over the control of the narcotic trade, they said.
Four persons were also shot dead during firefights with police during this same period, the officials added.
An assortment of firearms from sophisticated Russian built assault rifles to revolvers and even locally assembled guns was also seized by police from criminal operatives they said.
Most of the organized crime activities have been reported from the densely populated Western and Southern provinces of the island nation with similar incidents on the rise in other parts of the country as well.
It was only the other day that the Minister for Public Security Tiral Alles summoned a group of high ranking police officials and formed a special committee to look into the matter at the very earliest.
Another worrying issue is the alleged involvement of errant officials embedded with the state security enforcement agencies and in some cases even politicians who are known to be on the take from crime gangs operating both in the country and elsewhere.
Dozens of Sri Lankan criminals are known to be operating from foreign capitals where there are no extradition treaties and therefore they enjoy a safe haven in those countries, the officials said.
