Friday 2nd August, 2024

Two dangerous underworld figures, Najeem Mohammed Imran alias Kanjipani Imran and Sujeewa Ruwan Kumara aka Loku Patty have been arrested overseas, according to media reports. The police believe they masterminded the killing of Surendra Wasantha Perera, better known as Club Wasantha, in Athurugiriya last month.

It was reported yesterday that the Sri Lanka police had sought Interpol intervention to have Imran and Loku Patty extradited. One can only hope that efforts being made to have them brought here expeditiously to stand trial for their crimes including drug smuggling and murders will reach fruition. Other Sri Lankan criminals living overseas and running their crime syndicates here must be similarly dealt with. Dubai has been a home away from home for most of them.

Many high-profile crimes in Sri Lanka are related to turf wars among drug dealers. Neutralising the drug trade will therefore be half the battle in ridding the country of organised crimes. Crime syndicates have emerged so powerful that their bosses even issue death threats to senior police and prison officers. They are also behind the billion-rupee refuse tea racket and large-scale illegal sand mining operations.

It is popularly believed that behind every big-time drug dealer there is a politician in this country. If Makandure Madush, who became Sri Lanka’s Napoleon of Crime, had not died while being in police custody, allegedly at the hands of a rival underworld gang, in 2020, he would have revealed the names of the politicians who had benefited from his largesse and facilitated his illegal operations including drug trafficking. After his arrest in Dubai and extradition, nobody expected him to live, much less spill the beans.

Kanjipani Imran also has political connections, and if he is brought here and made to speak, he will open a can of worms for several key politicians in both the government and the Opposition. He is known to carry out money laundering operations here through various fronts. It was thanks to his political connections and wealth that he was able to wriggle out of some situations where ordinary criminals would have met their Waterloo. All other drug barons have huge slush funds and they distribute money among politicians generously during elections.

Kudu Lal, who was the main supplier of heroin in Colombo, succeeded in giving the STF the slip with the help of a powerful minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government. That politician who was notorious for his underworld links and carried out attacks on media institutions and night clubs with impunity escorted Kudu Lal to the BIA so that the police could not arrest him.

Leading underworld figures are physically eliminated when they outlive their usefulness to their political masters or the latter fear that the former will rat on them. One may recall that the notorious killers who did political work, such as Gonawala Sunil, Beddegana Sanjeewa and Wambotta were gunned down during the governments of Presidents J. R. Jayewardene, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa, respectively.

If Kanjipani Imran and Loku Patty are brought here, the police will have to protect them, for their statements will expose the nexus between politicians and the netherworld of crime and drugs. Most of all, the criminal duo must not be allowed to obtain bail and flee the country.

Kanjipani Imran fled overseas while being on bail. Many an eye brow was raised when he was enlarged on bail. The circumstances under which he was able to obtain bail amidst warnings that he would run away must not go uninvestigated.