‘Napoleon’ dead

Thursday 22nd October, 2020

Sri Lanka’s Napoleon of Crime, Madush, who met his Waterloo, last year, died on Tuesday. The police shot him dead at Maligawatte, Colombo, in what has been described as a confrontation between them and some of his confederates who allegedly tried to help him escape. A stock of heroin was found in an apartment which he allegedly led the police to.

Samarasinghe Arachchige Madush Lakshitha aka Makandure Madush was no ordinary criminal. Having clawed his way up in the underworld, he became so powerful that his private army could strike anywhere at will as was evident from the Kalutara prison bus massacre in 2017. He meticulously planned the ambush on the prison vehicles while he was hiding in Dubai, and had the leader of a rival gang killed together with six others including two jailers. He obviously had inside help as he was aware of the last minute-changes the prison officers, tasked with taking a group of prisoners including the victims to a court, had made to their plan. His businesses included drug running, extortion and contract killing. He used a fraction of his ill-gotten wealth for charity. He sponsored religious functions and reportedly lavished funds on some politicians.

The blame for the rise of Madush, a worker from a southern village, in the underworld should go to the police and successive governments, which did precious little to neutralise organised criminal networks. The traffic cops wait till motorists commit offences to fine them, and crime busters wait till criminals emerge strong to kill them! In fact, governments have created monsters in the underworld to do their dirty work. The J. R. Jayewardene regime was responsible for the creation of Gonawala Sunil, who received a presidential pardon while serving a sentence for abducting and raping a teenage girl. He committed heinous crimes, carried out attacks on Opposition politicians and stuffed ballot boxes. He got killed when his political masters realised he knew too much and would go out of control. The Premadasa government sponsored Soththi Upali, who terrorised the country and had even high-ranking police officers salute him. He died at the hands of his rivals after the UNP had lost power. The Kumaratunga administration had a notorious underworld character, Beddegana Sanjeewa, appointed a police officer and attached to the Presidential Security Division. He rose above the law, and committed many a crime, but died a violent death when he became an embarrassment to that regime. The previous Rajapakasa government had a minister who specialised in underworld affairs. He had Opposition protests crushed, and journalists as well as media institutions attacked besides grabbing land in Colombo and its suburbs and extorting money. He helped drug kingpin Kudu Lal flee the country. The yahapalana government did not promote criminals, but it allowed terrorists like Zahran, responsible for the Easter Sunday carnage, to emerge powerful. The credit for having Madush brought here following his arrest in Dubai, last year, should go to Maithripala Sirisena, who was the President at the time and showed no leniency towards criminals. Unfortunately, the Easter Sunday bombings derailed his war on drugs.

Strangely, in this country, all criminals who get caught perish in more or less the same manner; they invariably lead the police to their hideouts where drugs or weapons are hidden, grapple with the armed cops or pull out firearms or grenades only to get shot dead. Time was when criminals would plunge into rivers and canals with handcuffs on and drown while being taken to their hideouts. Underworld characters no longer do so; now, they apparently prefer to die in clashes with the police on terra firma! Either these criminals are so stupid as to fight with armed cops and die in the process, or the police think the public readily buys into cops’ tales about how criminals perish while in custody.

It is unfortunate that Madush happened to be killed. Had he been tried for his crimes, he would have had to name those who had benefited from his criminal activities and largesse.