• IGP initiates special programme to identify dirty cops
• Says some transferred already, disciplinary action to follow
• Says, crime links with some CID officers observed

The Police Department has initiated a special mechanism to identify the high-ranking Police officers within the department who are in league with organised crime, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon told The Daily Morning yesterday (17).

The new programme to vet senior Policemen for links with organised crime, including officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), is currently underway and, steps have been taken to take action against those officers implicated, the IGP stated.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (17), IGP Tennakoon said that several officers who were identified with such connections have already been transferred to other divisions. He stressed that such misconduct, especially by senior officers could impede the ongoing anti-drug and anti-crime efforts launched by the Police Department, therefore, strict actions would be taken against such officers.

When asked, the IGP said that a number of inquiries into such incidents and individuals are still in the process, noting that several officers in the CID were removed from the department during the past few months, and also said that the others were transferred to other divisions.

“When it comes to the department (Police), it was observed that several with such connections are from the CID (officers attached to the CID). Therefore, we have paid special attention to identifying those CID officers who maintain such ties with those organised crime figures. First, we have to carry out a proper investigation into the matter; accordingly, steps will be taken against those officers,” he said. However, the IGP would not elaborate further on the internal investigations which are ongoing.

Earlier, it was reported that a number of Police officers, including high-ranking officers within the CID, are reportedly to be transferred due to their alleged connections to controversial organised crime figure Nadun Chinthaka, alias ‘Harak Kata’.

According to such media reports, around a dozen CID officials, including one who is suspected to be a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), are being closely investigated by the Police Department over alleged links with Nadun Chinthaka.

Several attempts made by The Daily Morning to contact Public Security Minister Tiran Alles and Secretary to the Ministry Viyani Gunathilaka and the National Police Commission regarding the Police – criminal collusion, proved futile.

Sri Lanka has been plagued by crimes linked to increasingly sophisticated organised crime networks, some with trans-national links. While Police collusion with crime figures have been long suspected, evidence of such only began to emerge over the last few years, with a number of Police officers arrested and charged over several such connections.