A 34-year-old man has been arrested for aiding the shooters involved in the murder of five persons in Beliatta recently (Jan 22).

The Police said the suspect from Rathgama was apprehended on the Dhodanduwa Road in Rathgama by a team of Police Officers from Hakmana on Friday (Jan 26).

The suspect is reported to have received from the chief suspect the two T-56 weapons that were used in the shooting and had transported the firearms from Akuressa to Karapitiya.

The Police have also taken into custody the motorcycle used to transport the weapons and two mobile phones used by the suspect.

The suspect has been handed over to the Beliatta Police for further investigation. The Police have obtained a detention order under which the suspect will be detained for seven days for interrogations. 

Five persons, including the Leader of the ‘Our Peoples Party’ Saman Perera were killed in the mass shooting in Beliatta. 

The shooting is suspected to be a retaliation move over a triple murder in Tangalle last year. (NewsWire)

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An individual has been arrested in connection to the incident of five people being shot dead in Beliatta on Monday (Jan 22).

The Ministry of Public Security said the suspect is a 54-year-old man identified as Saman Kumara. 

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the suspect had driven the SUV at the time of the shooting and that he had also planned the murders. 

The suspect was arrested by a Police Team from Matara, while they had also seized the Pajero Mitsubishi jeep used to carry out the shooting.

Fiver persons, including the Leader of the Our Peoples Party Saman Perera, were killed in the shooting reported in Beliatta.

The suspects had followed the victims who were travelling in a Defender and had opened fire at them after they had stopped for refreshments after exiting the Southern Expressway in Beliatta. The suspects had then fled the scene in the same SUV.

Police investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of the shooting, which is suspected to be a retaliation move over a triple murder in Tangalle last year. (NewsWire)

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The Police have recovered the vehicle suspected to have been used in the murder of five persons in Beliatta on Monday (Jan 22).

The SUV has been found in a car park in front of the Vidyaloka Pirivena in Galle. 

The vehicle has been taken into custody by a special Police team that had arrived from Matara. 

Fiver persons, including the Leader of the Our Peoples Party Saman Perera, were killed in the shooting reported in Beliatta.

The suspects had followed the victims who were travelling in a Defender and had opened fire at them after they had stopped for refreshments after exiting the Southern Expressway in Beliatta. 

The suspects had then fled the scene in the same SUV, which has now been found abandoned in Galle. 

Police investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of the shooting, which is suspected to be a retaliation move over a triple murder in Tangalle last year. (NewsWire)

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CCTV footage has been released to the media on the activities of the suspect in the aftermath of the Beliatta mass shooting yesterday.

According to the footage, the suspect is dropped off at a location by the SUV that was used in the shooting.

He is later seen walking along several roads along with a backpack. 

Fiver persons, including the Leader of the Our Peoples Party Saman Perera, were killed in the shooting reported last morning.

The Police have launched investigations to ascertain the cause of the shooting, which is suspected to be a retaliation move over a triple murder in Tangalle last year. (NewsWire)

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Police investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of the Beliatta mass murder reported yesterday, especially if it is linked to underworld gangs, the Police said. 

According to the Police, preliminary investigations reveal that the shooting had occurred in retaliation for a triple murder in Tangalle.

Police investigations have revealed that the victims accused of having aided suspects involved in a murder in Tangalle in 2022 had been travelling in the Defender to appear before the court for the case proceedings.

They had exited the Southern Expressway at the Beliatta exit point and had stopped along the road for refreshments when a group in a Prado-type jeep followed them and opened fire.

The driver of the Defender had died in his seat, while the four other passengers had exited the vehicle and run into a nearby shop, where they had been chased by the suspects and shot dead. One victim who had sustained injuries had died upon admission to the Tangalle Hospital. 

The Leader of the ‘Ape Janabala Pakshaya’ (Our Peoples Party), Saman Perera, is among the victims killed in the incident and is also among those accused of aiding the 2022 Tangalle Murder suspects. 

The Police had also searched the residence of the late Saman Perera yesterday, on alleged information of concealed weapons, but had found no weapons. (NewsWire)

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The leader of the “Ape Janabala party” Saman Perera is among the five individuals shot dead in Beliatta, the Police confirmed.

Prominent Buddhist Monks Athuraliye Rathana Thera and Galagodatte Gnansara Thera contested the last parliamentary elections under Saman Perera’s “Ape Janabala party” (Our Peoples Party) which won one seat in the election.

According to Police Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa, the shooting had taken place while the victims were travelling in a Defender.

SSP Thalduwa told NewsWire that the defender had travelled from Colombo and had exited through the Beliatta interchange and had stopped on the side of the road.

He further said that an individual in a pickup truck that had arrived behind had shot at the driver while he was getting down from the vehicle, while he had also shot at the other passengers in the defender.

Initially, four of the passengers in the Defender had died in the shooting, while it was later reported that another individual who was hospitalised with injuries had succumbed to injuries, taking the death toll to five.

The Police are conducting investigations into the incident. (NewsWire)

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