VIP Defender & 2 persons involved in attack on van at Kalagedihena arrested

The Defender vehicle, which was recently involved in the attack on a van at Kalagedihena, has been found at a residence in Maharagama area, says the Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara.

SP Gunasekara added that the Defender vehicle was taken into police custody.

The driver of the Defender and another individual have been arrested after the duo surrendered to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD), the police media spokesperson stated further.

The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana Wickremaratne today (19) directed the CCD to investigate into the incident where VIP security personnel attacked a van recently at Kalagedihena.

The investigations conducted on the matter had managed to uncover the Defender vehicle involved in the incident.

A video recorded on a mobile phone had been widely circulated on social media recently depicting a group of individuals, dressed in white shirts and believed to be VIP security officers, arriving in a white Defender and Prado and attacking a van in the middle of the road at Kalagedihena on the Colombo-Kandy main road.

The driver of the van said that the two vehicles in question came from behind him at high speeds and blocked his vehicle in the middle of the road before several individuals in white shirts got out of the vehicles and attacked his van door demanding that he step out.

He also said that they were dressed in clothing similar to VIP security personnel and that there were two other individuals sitting in the backseat of the Prado.

The incident was captured on a mobile phone by one of the passengers inside the van while the footage also shows the license plates (CAG-0550/CAD-8850) of the two vehicles involved.

Ada Derana learns that the Prado (CAG-0550) is registered under the name of Dinesh Nuwan Amaratunga from Ingiriya while the Defender (CAD-8850) is registered under a certain Udam Indula Sampath Bandara Amaratunga also from Ingiriya.