Four excise officers arrested over shooting incident in Bambalapitiya

Sri Lanka Police have arrested four officers of the Excise Department over an incident where they had allegedly opened fire at a vehicle near a fuel station at Marine-Drive in Bambalapitiya, suspecting that those in the vehicle were drug traffickers.

A shooting incident had been reported in the Bambalapitiya area in Colombo this evening (07).

It was reported that several individuals, who had arrived in a van, had opened fire at an SUV near a filling station at Marine Drive, Bambalapitiya.

When inquired by Ada Derana, Bambalapitiya Police had stated that both vehicles had then driven away, and that neither any casualties nor injured individuals had been reported thus far.

Police said that the excise officers had opened fire at the vehicle in question suspecting that its occupants were drug traffickers, however did not provide further details. 

CCTV footage of the incident show a van arriving and stopping parallel to the parked SUV which proceeds to reverse and attempt to leave while several individuals are then seen getting out of the van and opening fire at the SUV which speeds off.

Bambalapitiya Police is conducting further investigations regarding the incident.