COLOMBO :Chief Government Whip, Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa assured in Parliament on Wednesday ,Feb.19,that the Government is taking serious action to address the rise in crimes including the daily occurrence of shootings in the country and have already taken several measures to address the issue.
The Minister said the Government will not permit the underworld activities to rise and will implement extremely strict measures to curb the serious issue. He said that these criminals are linked with the underworld, black money, drug trafficking and many other areas and that many of those who operate these criminal activities in Sri Lanka are living overseas. He further said that probes have revealed that even some security personnel are also involved in these crimes.
He emphasised that Special Task Force (STF), Police and Intelligence Unit have been already deployed to conduct investigations into these crimes and as preliminary steps the Defence Ministry has already recalled weapons that have been issued by the government and up to now a significant number of firearms have been returned and that investigations are ongoing in connection with returning the balance weapons issued by the Defence Ministry.
“The Government has taken required steps to bring back underworld criminals who are living in hiding in India and Dubai and investigations are underway to apprehend and repatriate them back to the country. There are many more measures that have already been taken to bring down the crime rate in the country and the government will strongly intervene to address the serious issue of criminal activities taking place in the country.”
