Assets worth over Rs.4 billion belonging to 88 individuals who have accumulated wealth through illegal activities, including drug trafficking, have been frozen by the Illegal Assets Investigation Division, data from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) shows.
The frozen assets include more than 77 large land plots totalling over 1,500 perches, more than 40 houses and buildings, 12 gemstones, over 10 kilogrammes of gold, a supermarket, a pharmacy, two hotels, a soap manufacturing machine, over 100 vehicles, seven multi-day fishing vessels, 328 bicycles, and two vallam boats.
The assets of 26 major underworld drug traffickers are among those frozen. The largest volume of assets frozen, preventing sale or transfer, belongs to an individual known as Dematagoda Ruwan, who is the brother of Dematagoda Chaminda, a known underworld figure.
According to the Illegal Assets Investigation Division, the total value of assets frozen under Dematagoda Ruwan’s name stands at Rs.666.9 million. These include five bank accounts holding Rs 90 million, two land plots worth Rs.380 million, 10 vehicles valued at Rs.200 million, 1.5 kilogrammes of gold worth over Rs.20 million, two houses worth over Rs.40 million, and pawned items valued at more than Rs.10 million.
The list of those whose assets have been frozen includes many prominent underworld drug figures such as Kudu Salindu, Kudu Roshan, Mohamed Rifkan, Weliwita Suda, Karandeniya Sudda, Ganemulla Sanjeewa, Ladiya, Kevuma, Batuwatte Chamara, Basiq, Olumara, Bathala Heen, Parei Sudda, and Kirinde Chamara, among others.
The division’s information reveals that the assets of these individuals have now been officially frozen. Bathala Heen, a well-known cannabis trafficker, recently had Rs.100 million worth of assets frozen, while last week an additional Rs.30 million worth of assets under his wife’s name were also frozen.
Many of these underworld drug traffickers whose assets have been frozen are currently overseas, and much of the property is registered under the names of their relatives. These asset freezes are the result of investigations ongoing since 2021. A senior Police officer stated that further investigations will be carried out into the assets of a large number of other individuals, and that necessary steps will be taken to freeze those assets as well.
(dailynews.lk)
(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by dailynews.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)
