Two traffic Police officers engaged in checking vehicles in the Dharga Town area in Aluthgama have been attacked and one injured by the suspects travelling in a three wheeler on Tuesday (26) night, who ignored the traffic Police officers’ signal to stop the vehicle.
Police Media Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa said that the two traffic Police officers who were on duty using the 119 traffic Police motorcycle service in Dharga Town area in Aluthgama, had signalled one of two suspicious three-wheelers travelling in front to stop for checking, but the three-wheel driver has ignored the call to stop and fled.
Police officers had given chase behind the three wheeler found to be suspicious on their motorcycle with another traffic police motorcycle following them and had managed to stop them in the Dharga Town area itself.
However, when the two traffic cops were about to check the three-wheeler, the group of people who were inside it had attacked the cops before they could even get off their motorcycle and one of the cops who was injured from the attack has been hospitalised for treatment, Thalduwa said.
The group of people travelling from behind in the second suspicious three-wheeler had also got off the vehicle and attacked the two police officers. The people in the Dharga Town area have helped the police officers to arrest four out of the six suspects while the other two fled. There have been three suspects in each of the two three wheelers who had been arrested.
The Aluthgama Police OIC has arrived at the location with a team of police officers at the time of the incident and had taken the four suspects and the two three wheelers into custody. Three swords have been found hidden under the carpets of the two trishaws and suspects have been found possessing heroin with them that have also been seized by the police, Thalduwa said.
The four arrested suspects have been identified as residents of Induruwa, Kosgoda area having records of previous drug trafficking related offences against them. Investigations have revealed that at least two of the arrested suspects are involved with the drug trafficking network and that they are involved in the drug trafficking trade as well as being drug addicts.
Police suspect that the six suspects travelling in the two trishaws have been on their way to commit a crime that had been thwarted due to the intervention by the two traffic cops who stopped them for checking. Police also suspect that the gang could be connected to underworld organised criminals.
Aluthgama police are taking necessary steps to produce the four arrested suspects before the Court and are conducting investigations on those arrested and to nab the two suspects who fled.
Varuna Dayaratne