Features
Life and Death of a Drug Kingpin
Hemantha Randunu
Samarasinghe Arachchige Madush Lakshitha, born to a middle-class family in Kamburupitiya in 1979, had nothing in his early life to suggest a rise to infamy. He was first educated at Kamburupitiya Maha Vidyalaya, and then Narandeniya National School.
Madush’s mother was an active member of the JVP during the 88/89 insurgency. In 1989, she was shot dead while attending a JVP rally. Madush was left traumatised, with his elder sister, younger brother and a negligent father. The children were later cared for by their grandmother and aunt.
Madush dropped out of school after his O/Ls. From then onwards, he struggled to make ends meet doing temporary stints as a lorry driver and a motor mechanic. In 1998, Madush married Wijetunga Gamage Dayani Muthumali and moved to Kamburupitiya, her hometown.
Danny Hiththetiya was the Chairman of the Southern Development Authority at that time. There had been a long-running dispute between the duo over several lands owned by Madush’s father. This was a clash to end with a string of murders. Claiming that he was wronged, Madush took up arms against Upananda, the brother-in-law of Danny Hiththetiya, and shot him dead in 2002. This would be the first in a long list of his heinous crimes.
After killing Upananda, Madush slowly made his way in the world of crime. He left the village, joined an underworld gang and was involved in a number of robberies across the country. By then, he was known as Kamburupitiye Madush. It was much later that he came to be known as Makandure Madush.
Madush has been charged with a number of murders including the killing of Indrajith Jayawardena in front of the Matara Hospital, murdering a person on June 29, 2006, and shooting a person to his death in Marawila. The double murder in Aluthgama is also believed to have been the doing of Makandure Madush and his partners.
Countless robberies have been carried out by Madush and his gang. The robbery of Rs. 1 million from a businessman in Matara, the robbery of leasing companies in Negombo and Gampaha, the robbery of the Wayamba Development Bank in Keselwatta and the robbery of Rs. 1 million from a businessman in Thihagoda are just a few off an extended listing.
Aspiring to become the next kingpin of the southern crime ring, Madush unleashed a killing spree on his rival gangs. Several close associates of Kosgoda Suji, Gotha Asanka, Ganemulla Sanjeewa and Podi Suresh were killed by him.
Together with Angoda Lokka, Maligawatte Kanjipana Imran and Ratmalana’s Roha, Madush also headed a large-scale heroin racket.
Pressure from the security forces and threats from his enemies forced Madush to flee the country. However, his first attempt at heroin rackets was foiled when he was arrested by the CID in Katunayake, while trying to cross over to India. He was remanded for some months before being released on bail. Madush then managed to escape to Dubai.
From Dubai, Madush launched his second mission in which he was to assert dominance of the underworld, by mercilessly killing anyone who dared cross his path. With Kanchipani Imran, who was also in Dubai at that time, Madush proceeded to send large shipments of narcotics to Sri Lanka.
His drug money was lavishly spent on mistresses and all kinds of luxuries in Dubai. When an imprisoned criminal, Kalu Thushara, was killed in a prison riot, Madush arranged his wife to be brought to Dubai and made her a doxy (lover/mistress).
Makandure Madush worked behind the scenes in many organised criminal cases that took place in Sri Lanka. Madush directed the assassination of Ranale Samayan alongside six others, while he was being taken to court from Kalutara Prison. This criminal was audacious enough to make death threats even to the police officers.
Naomal Rangajeewa, an Inspector the Narcotics Division, was shot and seriously injured in Piliyandala by Madush’s henchmen. The lives of another police officer and an innocent girl were also claimed in the attack. Makandure Madush sent a gang to the house of a wealthy gem merchant in Aruwala, Maharagama and robbed him of a diamond worth around Rs. 800 million. His underlings abducted and killed Kos Malli, before dumping his severed head near the Hulftsdorp court complex.
Eventually the Dubai police arrested Makandure Madush and several others during a party in Dubai. They were held by the Dubai Police for several months and deported to Sri Lanka. Thereafter, Madush was held in the custody of the CID for nearly a year and a half, until he was shot dead during a shoot out recently in Maligawatte.
The short-lived glory of yet another desperado has drawn to an unceremonious close. Those who live by the sword shall die by it.
(Tranlated by Uditha Devapriya)
Photograph by Saman Ranaweera