Over 2,700 suspicious temporary occupants residing in Colombo City: Police

19 January 2022 09:26 am Views - 102

By Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya  

Special operations have revealed that a total of 2,746 suspicious temporary occupants have been residing in the Colombo City limits and Police are to verify their identities, Western Province Senior DIG Deshabandu Thennakoon said. 

The Western Province Community Police Division had launched a three-day operation on 14th, 15th and 16th of January to gather information on all temporary residents residing in houses, business premises, institutions, government or private premises, construction sites, etc. within the Colombo Municipal Council area.  
The operations were initiated with the aim of securing national security and eliminating crime and narcotic trade in Colombo.  


Accordingly, more than 600 officers were deployed to gather information on residents and the establishments.  


The public were requested to enter the correct information about the temporary residents of the area and hand it over to the relevant police officers or the relevant police station during the operation.  


Senior DIG Thennakoon said that during the operation, the officers had gathered information on 106,126 temporary residents who were outside the Western Province and currently residing in the Colombo City.   


He said 2,746 occupants, 1,852 male and 894 female, had failed to provide accurate information.  


Also, the officers gathered information on 26,747 houses, business premises, institutions, government or private premises and construction sites.  


The Senior DIG said that police officers in respective police stations were working to verify the identities of the suspicious temporary occupants again.