29 July 2019 10:49 pm
One suspect was injured and another escaped during a shoot out incident at the Pinwatte junction at Panadura by an army soldier, after hijacking a van from Mattagoda, Police spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekera said today.
He said the suspected van was robbed by two suspects this morning after threatening the driver with a locally assembled handgun 'Galkatas' last morning in Mattegoda.
While explaining the incident, the spokesman said, the van fixed with GPS tracking system was heading towards to Anguruwatota from Mattegoda.
"The Mattegoda police had alerted the Anguruwatota about the incident. Four police officer at the Anguruwatota police were attempted to stop this van but the van had sped off without stopping. The four police officers chased the van with two police bikes. Then the van had proceeded towards Colombo after passing Kalutara.
Later, the Wadduwa police had been notified the nearest roadblock about the speeding van. The van had made an attempt to run over two army personnel at the roadblock. One army personnel sustained severe injuries and the other person with minor injuries.
Later, a team of police officers attached to the Central Anti-Vice squad in Walana who had seen the speeding van and they managed to stop this van at Pirivena Junction in Pinwatte. The two suspects in the van were attempted to escape. When one suspect attempting to shoot at the police, one army person had opened fire at him. The suspect was injured and the other one was escaped. The injured suspect was arrested by the Police with his Galkatas weapon and the hijacked van.
Police are conducting further investigations in search of the escaped suspect. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)