Beliatta mass shooting: Two including main gunman’s wife arrested

The Police Special Task Force (STF) has arrested the wife of a retired naval person and his father on suspicion of being complicit in the Beliatta mass shooting that claimed the lives of five people.

The retired naval person in question was reportedly the leading gunman in this mass murder.

Thus far, 11 suspects in total have been arrested over the shooting which took place on January 23 near the Beliatta interchange of the Southern Expressway. Among the arrestees is the driver of the vehicle in which the assailants had arrived.

A group of assailants in an SUV had opened fire at a white Defender, killing four persons at the scene. The fifth person who was inside the Defender was rushed to the Tangalle Hospital with critical gunshot wounds, but he was pronounced dead shortly.

Among the deceased was the leader of “Ape Jana Bala Pakshaya” (Our Power of People Party or OPPP) Saman Perera. The other four victims were identified as Sameera Madhusanka, Hasitha Chinsuka, Buddhika Rajapaksha, and Nalin Champika.

The SUV was later found while parked near the Vidyaloka Pirivena in Galle.

The 39-year-old wife of the aforementioned retired naval person and the 72-year-old father, who aided and abetted the mass shooting, were reportedly apprehended while in possession of 21g and 350mg of heroin in the Muddaragama area of Pathagama, Pallewela.

According to the information divulged by the suspects during interrogations, the retired naval person had executed the shooting along with two other gunmen and fled to Dubai using the flight tickets arranged for them by a person identified as ‘Nipuna’.

Police suspect that the mass murder was steered by Harendra Gunathilake alias “Harsha”, a close associate of the notorious criminal figure and drug trafficker “Kosgoda Sujee”. This person is reportedly in hiding in Dubai.

Interrogations into the duo also led to the arrest of a 23-year-old female suspect who allegedly aided and abetted the 2023 murder attempt on former Rathgama Pradeshiya Sabha member Dulaj Tharanga, a brother-in-law of the infamous drug dealer “Rathgama Vidura”. The shooting took place near the Seenigama Devalaya in Hikkaduwa.