Govt. promises to tackle underworld crimes

Though the LTTE was almost decimated there is no assurance that all of their remaining weapons were captured by the armed forces and the fate of those weapons is unknown

According to statistics that has been revealed to the media by the police, 40 people have been killed in shootings so far this year in the country while several more have been injured. Against this backdrop the Daily Mirror on August 25 reported quoting Western Province Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon that the police, in collaboration with the Special Task Force (STF), have launched special operations to crack down on organised criminals and individuals associated with them, with the aim of completely controlling organised crimes in the country within the next six months. 

He had also said that a committee, responsible for assessing the current situation and proposing effective strategies to address drug and underworld activities have compiled an extensive database of organised gangsters and associates operating within Sri Lanka. It was also said that the Senior DIG said that efforts will be made to tackle underworld figures operating from overseas. The police, in conjunction with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), will launch a coordinated effort to address this issue.
These facts might please the peace-loving ordinary people in the country, despite the skepticism in the minds of many people on the success of the plans elaborated by the senior police officer. The skepticism is being emanated owing to the fact that crimes in the country emerge as occasional waves and governments of the day had given similar assurances every time on eradication crimes and underworld. 

Muscle power is not the means of the underworld or the ordinary criminals nowadays, as it was the case in the 1960s or 70s when the famous thugs such as Choppe of Maradana were wielding their prowess in various parts of the Capital city. The 30 year- long separatist war paved the way for proliferation of sophisticated weapons such as AK 47 and T 56 and also modern hand grenades instead of shot guns, ‘Galkatas’ and ‘Dappi’, the improvised hand guns and bombs. 
There was ample opportunity for weapons used in the war between the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in north and east to flow out of the war theatre.  There should have been opportunities for the members of the armed forces and the police to misappropriate and smuggle weapons out to the south. There have been many incidents where members of the armed forces were arrested with weapons smuggled out of the war theatre. 

Similarly, though the LTTE was almost decimated there is no assurance that all of their remaining weapons were captured by the armed forces and the fate of those weapons is unknown. Also, the cadres of the LTTE might have sold their weapons to the outsiders during the war as well. What happened to the firearms and explosives that were with the thousands of cadres and supporters of the LTTE’s Special Commander of the Batticaloa and Ampara Districts Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman after he deserted the rebel group in 2004 is still a mystery. Weapons seized by one party to the war from the other party during ambushes and skirmishes are prone to be mishandled before they are documented. Most of these weapons might have leaked into the hands of the criminals. 
Besides, the government distributed fire arms among political parties during the second insurrection of the JVP in late 1980s most of which are said to have not been returned. The State Minister of Defence Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon told Parliament last week that 100 or more out of 150 of MPs who had been issued guns between 1980 and 1990 had not returned their weapons. According to Tennakoon, some politicians are dead, but for sure not the weapons.

Anura Bandaranaike, the former Speaker once told that the Government had provided two lorry loads of weapons to a leading political party during the second insurrection of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Also, former State Minister for Defence General Anuruddha Ratwatte also informed Parliament once that around 15,000 illegal weapons are circulating within the society. No government had taken action to trace at least the weapons distributed among politicians the nexus between some of whom and the underworld is a known fact. Now we are lamenting over crimes.