Gunmen have claimed 44 lives so far in 2023

Gunmen have claimed the lives of 44 Sri Lankans so far in 2023, Police Spokesperson SSP Nihal Thalduwa has said.Addressing the media yesterday, he said those attacks had been carried out by organised criminal gangs.

SDIG, Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon said public cooperation was vital to ongoing operations to neutralise the underworld.Drug addiction led to various crimes, said SDIG Tennakoon.

Earlier, the Commandant of the Police Special Task Force (STF), DIG Waruna Jayasundara said the incidence of crime was higher in the Western and Southern provinces. Jayasundara added that most of the STF personnel were stationed in those two provinces.Seventeen organised active criminal gangs operated in the two provinces, with the WP accounting for 12 of them, the STF Chief said.