province Deshabandu: Latest News

Colombo (News 1st): 75 people have been arrested in a special operation in schools in the Western Province, over the sale of drugs and narcotic pills targeting school children.They were arrested during operations carried out between noon and 3pm on Friday (16), in 122 schools in the Western Province.Police seized 2 kilograms and 148 grams of the narcotic known as 'Mawa', 9 grams and 375 milligrams of heroin, 1 gram and 522 milligrams of the narcotic known as 'ICE' and 10 narcotic pills.The operation is ongoing on the advice of Senior DIG in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon.

COLOMBO (News 1st): Senior DIG in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Thennakoon told a Sri Lankan Court that if all responsible agencies held joint discussions on the intelligence received and acted expeditiously, the 2019 Easter Attacks could have been prevented.The Senior Cop was testifying at the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar in the case filed against Former Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara.Ex-IGP Jayasundara is charged with neglecting his duties by failing to prevent the Easter Attacks among other charges.Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Pieris led the evidence from the prosecution on Tuesday (18).Deshabandu Thennakoon told the court that the intel received by the Head of National Intelligence on the 9th of April 2019 from the State Intelligence Serves became yet another piece of intel that flowed from top to bottom of the chain of command.The witness told the court that even though the intel was on extremists targeting religious places and the Indian High Commission, there were no images or photographs of the wanted suspects, and therefore there was no opportunity for him or his junior officers to identify the perpetrators.However, the court questioned the witness if Sri Lanka Police is only capable of preventing an event if the definite time and date is mentioned or does Sri Lanka Police not possess the capability of preventing a possible event by looking into those claims.The Senior Police Officer responded that there was no definite information available on the matter.He also told the court that he was on leave from the 18th to the 21st of April 2019, and therefore he did not have time to follow up on the instructions given to junior officers.He added that there was no follow-up from Ex-IGP