(Lanka-e-News -14.Aug.2025, 11.00 PM) On the very day that newly appointed Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya formally assumed duties at Police Headquarters, a senior officer from another headquarters was taken into custody by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) in connection with an alleged Rs. 14 million (£37,000) bribery haul amassed over just eight months.
The suspect, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sathish Ranjan Hiyare Gamage, was serving as Acting Director of the Cultural Division (Administration) at the Field Force Headquarters when CIABOC officials moved in to arrest him.
At first glance, it seemed a day of contrasting events – the formal investiture of a new police chief at one headquarters, and the humiliating arrest of a senior officer at another. In reality, the two episodes formed part of a single narrative: the continuing struggle to build an incorruptible Sri Lankan police force.
Investigators allege that during his tenure as SSP in charge of the Galle and Embilipitiya divisions, Gamage accepted bribes and protection payments totalling more than Rs. 14 million over just eight months. The sum, CIABOC stresses, represents only the amount uncovered so far.
CIABOC’s case is that the payments came from a range of sources – organised crime groups, drug traffickers, operators of illicit distilleries, and others seeking favours or protection from law enforcement.
The breakthrough reportedly came not from years of internal audits but from a mobile phone seized during a drug bust. When the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested a well-known narcotics trafficker named Dulaj Tharanga, investigators examined his WhatsApp messages and found three bank account details belonging to a man named Anura Nanayakkara. Tracing payments into these accounts, CID discovered repeated deposits by Dulaj Tharanga and other underworld figures.
When Nanayakkara was questioned, he admitted the accounts were not his but were controlled by SSP Gamage. Further investigation revealed that money had also been deposited by Lakshan de Soyza Wijesinghe, known in underworld circles as “Rathgama Vidura,” another figure linked to organised crime.
According to police sources, the CID first began investigating Gamage during the previous administration, when the then-IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon was in office. The inquiry was reportedly halted on the IGP’s instructions, allowing Gamage to continue in his post unchallenged.
The change came with the arrival of the new ‘Malima’ administration, which ordered the case reopened. CID handed its findings to CIABOC, whose own inquiries unearthed further evidence.
Investigators allege that Gamage’s security officer made more than 100 separate cash deposits into the suspect accounts, while his driver deposited over Rs. 1.4 million in at least 15 transactions. One foreign-based drug trafficker is said to have transferred millions of rupees into the accounts on three separate occasions. Another trafficker, Amila Paranavithana, allegedly made similar deposits.
On Thursday, as the new IGP was taking his oath, CIABOC officials walked into the Field Force Headquarters and arrested Gamage at his desk. He was produced before Colombo Additional Magistrate Pavithra Sanjeewani Pathirana and remanded until 19 August.
The arrest marks a symbolic – if uncomfortable – bookend to a day that was supposed to be about new beginnings for the police service. Whether it signals a lasting shift in the culture of impunity within the Sri Lankan police remains to be seen.
(Photograph: SSP Sathish Gamage in uniform)
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by (2025-08-14 20:30:21)
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