A live hand grenade manufactured in a foreign country and a motorcycle have been found yesterday (8) inside the house of Adikaram Mudiyanselage Ramesh Priyajanaka alias ‘Manna Ramesh’, a notorious underworld organized crime leader and drug dealer who was repatriated from Dubai on Tuesday (7).
The house of Manna Ramesh situated in the Napawela area in Yalagama, Avissawella was raided by a team of officers from the Western Province South Crime Division during the initial interrogation of Manna Ramesh Police found the hand grenade and motorcycle hidden in the house, Police said.
The live hand grenade was found buried inside the house and the motorcycle was found hidden behind the house by the Western Province South Crime Division team who raided the place.
The suspect is detained in the Crime Division for 72 hours to conduct further investigations under the Prevention of Terrorism Act,
The Court ordered Manna Ramesh to be detained for 72 hours for questioning in response to a request made by the officials of the CID on the very same day the suspect was repatriated from Dubai, and was handed over to the Western Province South Crime Division for further investigations to be carried out.
Thereafter, an order is to be obtained from the Court to detain Manna Ramesh for a further 90 days based on the approval of the Secretary of the Public Security Ministry under Section 9/1 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Manna Ramesh, who is considered to be an organized underworld gang leader, involved in committing many crimes including murders centered around Avissawella area and making death threats to wealthy businessmen in Sri Lanka and extorting ransom through his underlings, who fled to Dubai last year, was arrested by the Dubai Police about two months ago while he was traveling in a car with his wife and two children.
Manna Ramesh is also on the list of 43 who have been issued red warrants by the International Police (Interpol).
Varuna Dayaratne