A person on a motor-bike has come and engaged in a robbery of a van day before yesterday (29) night at Kirigampamunuwa, Mattegoda and had been fleeing with the vehicle when he was shot at by the army in Pinwatta, Panadura and being subjected to serious injury was admitted to Colombo national hospital where he has passed away. Police media spokesman, Mr. Ruwan Gunasekera said that he was an accomplice of Kosgoda Tharaka of an underground gang of organized crime, Kosgoda Tharaka.

The deceased is Kodagodage Priyantha aged 47 from Megoda Kiridiyagala, in Balangoda alias "Outa" and he has been involved in a bank robbery in Mirihana including several other crimes in the company of Kosgoda Tharaka, Mr. Ruwan Gunasekera said. Mr. Ruwan Gunasekera further said that the other suspect who was injured in the shooting, Jayasinghe Aarachchilage Saluja Nicho Shantha, a resident of Asgiriwalpola, Udugampola and is taking treatment under police protection at Panadura hospital. This was mentioned by Mr. Ruwan Gunasekera at a media briefing at police headquarters.

Army soldiers have made an attempt to block the said van at Wadduwa road-bock and as a result of army soldiers driving towards the van in front, it has knocked against the van concerned in which instance two army soldiers were injured and are receiving treatment at Panadura hospital, the police spokesman said. He further mentioned that these two suspects have come on a motor-bike around 7.30 in the night day before yesterday (29) to Kirigamunuwa, Mattegoda, and had stopped a van on the road and after aimed a 'galkatas' type weapon at the head of the driver and subsequently have fled with the van. The driver of the van instantly notified the incident to Kahatuduwa police and further informed them that it is possible to detect the route which these robbers had taken by means of GPS technology, Mr. Ruwan Gunasekera further said.

According to GPS technology, it was found that this van was moving towards Anguruwathota and Kahatduwa police had informed about it to Anguruwathota police, Mr. Ruwan Gunasekera stated. Though police ordered the van to stop, the van kept on moving; and as a consequence, four officers of Anguruwathota police pursued this van on two motor-bikes.

The police then were able to note that this van was gaining access towards the south of Colombo from the direction of Kalutara through means of GPS technology and subsequently this was informed to nearby Wadduwa police in which case the army and police road-block in unison stationed in the city were notified, the police media spokesman stated.

Several army officers at the roadblock had tried to bring this van to a halt and in which instance they had knocked against two soldiers and were fleeing from the scene. Under these circumstances, the army had taken the option of targeting the van and the vehicle traveled towards Colombo. A posse of policemen of an anti-corruption unit who had been on a raid and was coming back had observed how a particular van at top speed was involved in overtaking and even having knocked against another van was continuously speeding towards Colombo, Mr. Gunasekera said. Mr. Gunasekera further mentioned that the above-mentioned posse of policemen had given chase behind the van and that the four Anguruwathota police officers were seen pursuing this van on motorbikes.

The condition of a suspect who sustained gunshots was admitted to Colombo national hospital in a serious condition and he passed away after admission. A search operation was launched for a period of two hours on the suspect who had fled during the shooting and was finally taken into custody when hiding in a jungle close to the sea coast in the Pinwatta area. He was injured on one of his legs from gunshots and Mr. Gunasekera mentioned that when the van concerned had knocked the army soldiers at the roadblock in Wadduwa and was shot at by them for which he had sustained injury. The postmortem of the deceased was scheduled to be conducted yesterday (30).

- Indika Ramanayaka -