M’gala SSP arrested with cannabis received promotions despite dereliction of duty

CID questioned him over Easter Sunday lapses

By Norman Palihawadana

Police investigating former Moneragala SSP Sisira Kumara Herath, nabbed by police commandos during the weekend with 15 kilos of cannabis, told The Island that the officer had received a promotion to the next rank, in spite of being found guilty of dereliction of duty.

Sources said that as the ASP in charge of Negombo, Herath had been in charge of the Katuwapitiya area at the time of the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide attack that claimed over 100 lives at St. Sebastian’s Church there.

The CID has questioned him over his lapses.

IGP C. D. Wickremaratne has placed the CID in charge of the investigation.

The SSP was arrested during a raid conducted at his official residence, around 9 pm, last Sunday.

Uva Province Senior DIG Nuwan J. Wedasinghe deployed the STF to arrest the SSP.

The raiding party conducted a thorough search and found the stock of ganja concealed in the ceiling of the official residence of the SSP.

Police Media Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa confirmed the arrest. He said that along with the SSP, four other suspects had been arrested. One of them was a police officer while the other three were civilians, he added.

Following the IGP’s order to the CID to take over the investigations, a team of officers from the CID had left for Moneragala yesterday, SSP Thalduwa said.