A firearm which was found in a car driven by an injured suspect fleeing a fight in Ja-Ela was revealed to be a gift from Pakistan to former Navy Commander and former Chief of Defence Staff Ravindra Wijegunawardena.
The weapon found was a type 5 gold-plated firearm made in Pakistan.
On the 11th at around 3.30 in the morning, a car skidded off the road near the Katunayake Expressway Entrance in Ja-Ela.
Ja-Ela Police Officers who arrived at the location had taken steps to send the two people who were in the car with cut injuries to the hospital in an ambulance.
When the police officers inspected the car, they were able to find the gold-plated firearm, Ja-Ela Police OIC Chief Inspector Senarath Balasuriya said.
Further investigation by the police revealed that several people who consumed alcohol in Ragama had gone to a nightclub in Katunayake at around 1.00 am on the 11th and had been involved in a fight with the bouncers.
They have come back to Ragama, had taken the firearm and gone back to the nightclub to threaten the bouncers who had attacked them with bottles.
The car had met with the accident while returning from the night club as the two had suffered serious cut injuries.
The injured are currently receiving treatment at the Ragama Hospital and Colombo National Hospital.
One of the suspects had been serving as a guard at the Ragama residence of the former Navy Commander, and the other suspect is the owner of a vehicle service center.
The new Crescent moon of the month of Ramadan has not been sighted in Sri Lanka this evening (22) and therefore Muslims in Sri Lanka will begin the month of Ramadan fasting from dawn on Friday (March 24), the Colombo Grand Mosque says. Muslims all over the world will observe a month of fasting and prayers during Ramadan to commemorate the time when the Quran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed on the night of “Laylat Al Qadr”.
Fasting during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is considered to be one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that due to the public sector engaging in business activities, the money that was available for the construction of 100 projects similar to the Mahaweli during the past decades, has been destroyed.
He noted that in the future, the public sector will stop engaging in business and open it to the private sector to create a free and productive economy.
President Wickremesinghe mentioned this at the 71st commemoration ceremony of the late Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake at Independence Square today (22).
Recalling that Mr. D.S. Senanayake’s vision was to create a free economy, the President said that business should be done by the private sector and that the country could be developed with the tax revenue obtained from them.
However, due to the nationalization in 1956, the Government started engaging in business and that is why the tax revenue was inadequate for the development of the country, the President pointed out.
He stated that the country has distanced itself from Mr. D.S. Senanayake’s vision, but following his vision, Singapore has become a developed country today and said that despite our politicians dreaming of making Sri Lanka a Singapore, the destruction caused to Sri Lanka in the last 75 years due to the decisions of certain political movements is immense.
Therefore, the President further mentioned that Senanayake’s legacy should be carried forward to build a strong and powerful Sri Lanka.
President Wickremesinghe also laid floral tributes at the statue of the late D. S. Senanayake.
The Chief Incumbent of the Kollupitiya Polwatta Sri Dharmakeerthi Monastery Venerable Dr. Bandarawela Wimaladharma Thera delivered a special sermon.
Member of Parliament Vajira Abeywardena, Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of Staff to the President Mr Sagala Ratnayake, Senior Advisor to the President on Climate Change Mr Ruwan Wijayawardena, Former Speaker Mr Karu Jayasuriya, Former Ministers Ravi Karunanayake, Rohitha Bogollagama, Karunasena Kodithuwakku, Rukman Senanayake, former Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake, former Provincial Councilor Shantini Kongahage, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Vikum Liyanage and several others attended the event.