After 'Midigama Chooti' was caught, a heart attack performance in Oman

The main suspect, who allegedly planned to attack the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to free Harak Kata, a powerful underworld leader and drug trafficker, was brought to Sri Lanka yesterday (30) morning. This thirty-eight-year-old suspect, Rajapaksha Pathiranage Prabath Madusanka alias 'Midigama Chuti', was thus brought to the country from Oman.

After he was brought to Katunayake International Airport by an Oman Air flight (OV-437) which arrived from Muscat around 4:27 AM, he was officially arrested by officers of the Criminal Investigation Department.

Midigama Chuti, against whom even a Red Notice had been issued via Interpol, was arrested by Omani security forces in June last year. After Sri Lanka was informed about this through Interpol, local authorities requested Oman to hand him over according to extradition law. Although Omani authorities agreed to the request, his transfer to Sri Lanka was delayed due to a case pending against him in an Omani court. After the legal proceedings concluded earlier this month, despite the prevailing war situation in the Middle East, a special police team from the Criminal Investigation Department went to Oman and took him into custody.

It has now been revealed that when arrested by Omani security forces, the suspect attempted to mislead authorities by feigning a heart attack. However, the suspect, who was brought from Katunayake Airport to the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters in Colombo under tight security, is currently being held under a detention order and has been referred for further investigations.

Previously, when 'Harak Kata' and 'Kudu Salindu', who were arrested in Madagascar in 2023 and brought to Sri Lanka on June 30 of the same year, were being held at the Criminal Investigation Department, it was this Midigama Chuti who was behind the plan to help them escape with the assistance of corrupt police officers. After that attempt failed, he had planned to attack the department to free them, and for this, he had received the assistance of 'Midigama Ruwan', another key associate of Harak Kata.

Midigama Ruwan, who was arrested by the police in Dubai in 2024 due to a clash at a nightclub, was brought to Sri Lanka by a special team from the Criminal Investigation Department in May of the same year. Investigations have also confirmed that he, currently detained at Boossa Prison, orchestrated the assassination of former Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Lasantha Wickremesekara from within the prison. At the time of that assassination, Midigama Chuti was in the custody of Omani security forces.