(COLOMBO) – Sri Lanka’s top police brass headed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon met at an emergency meeting in the Island’s south on Wednesday to urgently address an upsurge in gang violence in the region that has left at least six persons dead and an equal number injured inside a period of two weeks.
Discussions were centered on strategies to effectively combat the crime wave while addressing any existing shortcomings within the law enforcement operations, officials said.
The IGP issued directives for immediate action to arrest those responsible for the shootings and to prevent future occurrences of such crimes.
Officers were instructed to enhance collaboration, share information and execute their duties diligently to tackle the prevailing challenges.
The IGP said that investigations will be conducted to assess the performance of police OICs and senior officers involved in the handling of recent incidents.
He said if any misconduct is revealed in the said investigations, disciplinary action will be taken against the relevant officers irrespective of rank and file.
Barely hours after the meeting ended the residence of a suspected gangster was shot up at Ambalangoda situated in the same area after dusk on Wednesday.
Nobody was reported to have been injured in the shooting.
