Spilling the Beans: From Ice Labs to Raviraj Murder, the Manamperi Files Explode

The latest Cabinet media briefing turned into a bombshell drama when Spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa dropped a revelation that has sent shockwaves from Tangalle to Colombo’s power corridors.

Enter Sampath Manamperi — accused of concealing not one, but two container loads of raw materials allegedly destined for the production of crystal meth (‘Ice’) under the watch of the notorious Kehelbaddara Padme. But Jayatissa’s revelation cut deeper: this fugitive isn’t just any drug mule. He is a former police intelligence officer — and, even more sensationally, a long-linked suspect in the 2006 murder of Tamil MP Nadarajah Raviraj.

“This person has served as a police constable, even in intelligence. He was also identified in the Raviraj case. Yet he contested under the SLPP banner. Cancelling his membership is not enough — Namal Rajapaksa and others must hand him over,” thundered Jayatissa.

The Manamperi saga is fast morphing into a cocktail of politics, crime, and family ties. His relatives are already in custody:

Wijewickrama Manamperige Piyal Senadheera, his brother and ex-SLPP local council member, detained under a PNB order.

Their 82-year-old father arrested after STF raids turned up police uniforms, jungle belts, firearm parts, and even fake number plates on the Middeniya property.

The STF says the family’s property looked more like a shadow police station than a homestead.

Meanwhile, the Customs Department and CID are digging into how two suspicious containers breezed through clearance — an embarrassment pointing to deep collusion inside state machinery.

And the plot thickens: a rented house in Nuwara Eliya, linked to Padme’s network and Backhoe Saman, was found to have hosted lorries full of crystalline substances. Locals recall one breaking down outside, giving away what might have otherwise been a ghost operation.

All of this comes as Backhoe Saman and Thambili Lahiru, freshly deported from Indonesia, are spilling their own beans under PTA detention. The courts are demanding updates, while CID prepares to interrogate Saman’s wife in prison over money-laundering trails.

The Manamperi family’s once-cosy political friendships in Hambantota and Tangalle are suddenly radioactive. The SLPP may try to downplay, but the optics are brutal: uniforms, drugs, assassinations, and Rajapaksa ties — all in one family tree.

For now, Sampath Manamperi remains on the run, but every fresh revelation is pulling more strings in Sri Lanka’s dark web of politics and crime. And if the “spilling beans” from those already caught are anything to go by, the script of this underworld-political crossover has only just begun.