Colombo’s Underworld Shaken: Coming Wave of Arrests

Colombo’s criminal underworld is on edge this week after two high-profile drug lords, earlier arrested in Indonesia, were quietly flown into Sri Lanka and placed under 90-day detention. According to inside sources, the pair have no option but to talk — and their testimony is expected to set off a chain of arrests in the coming days.

Already, whispers ripple through Colombo’s crime networks. Some figures have gone to ground; others have bolted. Among them, Kehelbaddara Padme Isharasewandi, a name long linked with narcotics operations, is said to have fled across India and taken refuge in Dubai. “She knew the net was closing,” one source in the intelligence community hinted, suggesting that more such flights may already be underway.

But if the drug lords’ detention has sparked tension, a newly leaked video from the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court has poured petrol onto the fire. The footage reveals a brazen method of smuggling in the gun used to kill underworld figure Ganemulla Sanjeewa right inside a courtroom — in what now looks like an inside job of chilling sophistication.

The video shows an individual dressed as a lawyer, walking casually into the courthouse. In his hand, a thick legal textbook, the kind lawyers often carry. But this one had a deadly secret: its insides had been hollowed out, creating a hidden compartment. Concealed within was a firearm.

Once inside the courtroom, the fake lawyer handed the book over, and in a flash, the gun was retrieved and used to fatally shoot Sanjeewa — who himself faced multiple criminal charges, including contract killings and drug trafficking. The brazen execution stunned even hardened court staff, and the newly surfaced video now confirms suspicions that Colombo’s underworld will go to extraordinary lengths to silence rivals and witnesses.

For law enforcement, these two events — the detention of the Indonesian-linked drug lords and the exposure of a deadly courtroom conspiracy — are two sides of the same underworld coin. Officials suggest that the drug lords’ confessions could unmask not just traffickers but also the protectors, financiers, and facilitators embedded in Colombo’s business and political classes.

“The pipeline runs Colombo–Dubai–Indonesia, with connections that reach far deeper than most realize,” said one investigator, hinting that the next few weeks may see “big names fall.”

The underworld, meanwhile, is in full damage-control mode. Families of certain operatives have been quietly moved abroad. Safehouses are being abandoned. And in Colombo’s taverns, the whispers are loudest about one thing: who will be arrested next?

What is clear is that Sri Lanka’s underworld, long accustomed to impunity, is now facing one of its greatest tests. A crackdown looms, and with insiders ready to sing for survival, the balance of power in Colombo’s shadowy world of guns, drugs, and money may be about to change.