Police have arrested two suspects in relation to the incident of recovering two bodies of youths who had gone missing in the Hurimaluwa area of Rambukkana.

The suspects were arrested in the Mawanella and Weli Oya areas yesterday (Jan. 15) during the investigations carried out into the incident, the Police Media Division said.

The bodies of the two victims were found buried underground, behind a house in Hurimaluwa, Rambukkana, which is said to be owned by a drug dealer residing in the area, on January 12.

The first body was recovered on January 12 after an excavation was launched to find the bodies of two persons who were reported missing in November 2022, based on information received by the Police that the two individuals had been murdered over an ill-fated drug deal.

Two persons, identified as Mohammad Iqbal Mohammad Azhar (26) and Mohammad Anwar Mohammad Arshad (28), residents of Kiringadeniya and Keraminiya Watta in Mawanella, were reported missing on 19 and 28 November last year, following which an investigation was launched into the matter, based on complaints made by the relatives of the missing persons.

During investigations into the matter by the Crimes Division of the Kegalle Police, a tip-off was received that the victims had been killed and buried behind the said drug dealer’s house.

The Kegalle Magistrate’s Court was then informed of the matter, after which an excavation was launched yesterday under the supervision of Kegalle Magistrate Wasana Nawaratne in the presence of the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the General Hospital in Kegalle.

Police mentioned that the two youths were heroin addicts and it was uncovered that they had gone to the drug dealer’s house to buy ‘Ice’ when there was a shortage of heroin had emerged in the country last November.

It has also revealed that earlier, the two had been involved in drug trafficking.

Four of the main suspects, who were involved in the murder, including ‘Hurimaluwe Farhan’, had fled away the area and, two of them have been arrested in Mawanella and Welioya yesterday (Jan. 15), according to police.

Police said that the investigating officers have also found the motorcycle of one of the deceased persons, which was hidden in an arrested suspect’s house.