Katubedda shooting: Three-wheeler used by gunman to flee seized

The three-wheeler used by the gunman in Kadubedda shooting incident, which claimed the lives of two, to escape the scene, and the man who hid the vehicle have been taken into custody in Waskaduwa, said Mount Lavinia Crime Investigation Division.

Drug dealer and organized criminal gang member Nilantha Kumara Silva alias Ukkuwa, 41, who was residing in Pinwatta area in Panadura, and Mohammad Saud Mohammad Samsan, a 31-year-old resident of Kaludewala in Panadura, were shot dead on June 29.

The two of them were travelling in a minivan and while the vehicle was parked on the Katubedda-Piliyandala road, two unknown persons, who came on a motorcycle, had opened fire at them with a T-56 firearm and fled.

The investigation into the related murders revealed that the shooters had fled on a motorcycle after the murder and then in a three-wheeler near, Egoda Uyana in Moratuwa. The three-wheeler was also captured on a CCTV camera while it was heading towards Matugama area.

The police said that probing the CCTV footage led to the arrest of the suspect.

Investigations also revealed that it was the suspect’s son who drove the three-wheeler after the gunman got into the vehicle.

Later, the police found the three-wheeler hidden by the suspect at his friend’s house in Waskaduwa.

The suspect is expected to be produced in the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s court.