Ex-drug peddler hacked to death inside home

By Norman Palihawadane

The Mount Lavinia police have launched an investigation to identify and trace two suspects who hacked to death a 52-year-old man at his home in Borupana, Ratmalana, early yesterday.

The victim had peddled narcotics in the area some years back and quit his business in 2020, police said. Thereafter, he had lived from the income received from renting two houses he built with drug money.

The victim, his paramour and her children were asleep when the suspects broke open their house around 4.30 am yesterday. The suspects were wearing masks and wielding knives. They put the victim’s mistress and children into a room and locked them, ordering them to remain silent.

Later, the man’s body was found with stab wounds on his chest.

Police said that the assailants seemed to have arrived in a three-wheeler. The motive behind the murder was not immediately clear.

Mount Lavinia police have launched an investigation to hunt down the perpetrators, who are yet to be identified.