Suspect arrested with stock of ammunitions, weapons in Dehiwela

Following the recovery of large stock of weapons and ammunition from a plot of land in Uva Kuda-Oya in Wellawaya yesterday, the STF arrested the alleged owner of those weapons from a house at Sri Saranankara Mawatha in Dehiwala.

The suspect, Mohamed Abdul Wahib, was arrested along with another stock of ammunitions and weapons at his house.

During the search operation, the STF and the Kohuwala Police recovered 22 rounds of ammunition of 12 bore gun, 90 shells of 12 bore gun, three rounds of T56 ammunition, several parts of a foreign made pistol, two air rifles, two cans of metal ball bearings, two tool kits used for shot gun cleaning and several unidentified rounds of ammunitions from the suspect’s house.

The weapons and the suspect were handed over to the Kohuwela Police.

They said the suspect would be handed over to the Kuda Oya Police for further investigations.

Investigations are underway to determine whether the arrested suspect has any involvement with any terrorist organisation or underworld. According to initial investigations, the suspect has informed the officers that he had collected these weapons and ammunitions as a hobby.

The Army and the Police on Monday recovered two repeater firearms, two air riffles, two T-56 riffles, four shotguns, two 12-bore weapons, 324 rounds of T-56 ammunition, 163 rounds of 12-bore ammunition and 430 12-bore ammunition, 110 rounds of M16 ammunition, 75 ammunition of 9mm, 169 ammunition of 7mm, 2,773 ammunition of REM, three binoculars, one set of handcuffs, 14 knives, a sword and a GPS tracker from the land at Kuda Oya.(Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya)