Gang violence surges as drug trade fuels shootings

Sri Lanka has recorded 22 shooting incidents since the start of the year, leaving 15 people dead and 12 injured, with police confirming that nearly half of these attacks occurred within a single fortnight between July 11 and 25.

Police figures show that ten of the 22 incidents took place during the two week period ending July 25 alone, resulting in three deaths and five injuries.

Some of the attacks targeted homes and property without causing casualties, while others appeared aimed at intimidating specific individuals. Several suspects have already been arrested in connection with the incidents, and investigations into the remaining cases continue.

Police Spokesman Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) F.U. Wootler stated that every case investigated thus far had revealed links to organised crime and the illicit narcotics trade.

He explained that rival gangs were increasingly resorting to armed attacks in order to eliminate competitors, settle financial disputes and curb the expansion of opposing groups.

Wootler noted that many individuals believed to be orchestrating the attacks were currently based overseas, while the intended victims were often relatives or close associates of rival gang members, with such attacks designed to intimidate rival organisations as much as to eliminate specific targets.

He added that police, acting under the direction of the Inspector General of Police, had intensified intelligence led operations, including detailed analysis of telephone records and other communications, in order to trace both those organising the attacks and those carrying them out.

Discussing the fatal shooting near the Bellanwila walking track on July 25, in which a 55 year old restaurant owner was killed, Wootler said police had arrested two suspects within an hour of the attack, one believed to be the gunman and the other allegedly the rider of the motorcycle used in the crime.

He noted that preliminary investigations suggested both suspects were heavily dependent on narcotics.

The Police Spokesman further disclosed that investigators were increasingly uncovering cases in which contract killers were being paid in narcotics rather than cash, with some suspects reportedly willing to carry out killings in exchange for relatively small quantities of drugs, underscoring the extent to which the narcotics trade was fuelling violent crime.

He said organised criminal groups typically waited until they had tracked a victim's movements and identified moments when police visibility was reduced before launching an attack.

While acknowledging that it was not feasible to station officers at every location, Wootler said law enforcement agencies remained committed to preventing such violence through intelligence gathering, surveillance and targeted operations, and would continue to act firmly against organised criminal networks and those involved in drug related violence.

The wave of violence recorded between July 11 and 25 spanned several parts of the country.

Attacks included a shooting at a house in Neboda, Matugama on July 11, a suspected drug trafficker seizing and firing an officer's weapon in Katunayake on July 15, the fatal shooting of a 26 year old man in Navagamuwa on July 16, gunfire injuring a security guard at a Dehiwala cemetery on July 19, a police shooting of a sword wielding suspect in Piliyandala the same day, an attack on a fisherman's home in Devinuwara on July 21, gunfire at a police sergeant's residence in Beliatta on July 22, the fatal shooting of a 39 year old man at a birthday function in Wattala on July 23, a serious injury caused by gunfire near a cemetery in Dematagoda the same day, and finally the fatal shooting in Bellanwila on July 25.