August 31, 2025 | 09:15 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The most wanted man in Sri Lanka has been extradited from Indonesia along with five other criminal suspects who were captured in a joint operation, the police said on Sunday, August 31, 2025, as reported by CNA.
Mandinu Padmasiri Perera, also known as Kehelbaddara Padme, is accused of arranging the murder of his rival in a courtroom in Colombo last February, and is also wanted for a dozen other killings and drug-related crimes.
He and four members of his gang were flown out on Saturday night on a commercial flight, escorted by Indonesian officers, and were received at the Colombo International Airport by Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala.
"I express my thanks to the government of Indonesia and the Indonesian police for helping us bring down a most dangerous criminal gang," Wijepala told reporters at the airport.
A Sri Lankan woman who is a member of the gang was flown separately a day earlier, the police added.
The police said the six suspects were arrested on Thursday in Jakarta in a raid conducted by the Indonesian police, supported by two Sri Lankan officers and an Indian intelligence agency.
The police described this operation in Indonesia as the largest overseas raid to apprehend Sri Lankan fugitives operating from abroad.
According to police data, 42 people have been killed in 80 gang-related shootings throughout the year.
Sri Lanka's Police Chief Priyantha Weerasooriya said gang leaders had fled Sri Lanka after the government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power last year, promising to eradicate corruption and organized crime.
"Underworld figures no longer have the political patronage they enjoyed before," Weerasooriya said, as quoted by NDTV. "That's why they are now operating from abroad."
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