The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has obtained a 72-hour detention order to further question former Minister Douglas Devananda, who was arrested yesterday in connection with a missing pistol, said police.
Devananda, who was arrested by the CID, was produced before the Gampaha Magistrate’s Court today (27).
He was taken into custody last evening (26) by CID officers in connection with an incident in which his personal firearm reportedly fell into the hands of members of an organised criminal gang.
It is reported that the former minister was arrested in connection with an investigation into an incident in which a firearm, which was provided to then minister Devananda by the Sri Lanka Army for his personal use in 2001, was later recovered following the interrogation of organised criminal figure ‘Makandure Madush’ in 2019.
Upon checking the serial number of the weapon, it was revealed that the firearm in question had been issued to Devananda.
The former minister’s pistol-type firearm was subsequently found concealed in a forested area near a culvert in Weliweriya.
The Homicide and Organized Crime Investigation Unit of the CID is continuing further inquiries into the incident.
