(COLOMBO) – A wanted Sri Lankan gangster who was hiding in Dubai was repatriated to the country during the early hours of Thursday, police said.
Piyum Hasthika also known as “Piyuma”, was brought into the country under escort by sleuths from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
According to police he is a close associate and hit man for the leader of a local crime syndicate.
His boss Salindu Malshika also known as “Kudu Salindu,” is also currently in the custody of the CID after her was repatriated from Madagascar on March 11, 2023.
Hasthika is a person of interest in a police investigation into several criminal activities that include drug trafficking, murder and intimidation of State officials.
The authorities recently conceded that there are dozens of known Sri Lankan criminal operatives based in foreign capitals and continue to carry out their illegal activities through proxies in the island-nation.
It was only the other day the country’s Acting Police Chief Deshabandu Tennakoon told the media that several top policemen were on the take from these crime operatives and vowed severe punishment for such errant officers irrespective of their rank and file in the Department.
