News

By Isuri Kaviratne and Vanessa Sridharan

More youngsters are joining underworld gangs in a bid to earn easy money by getting involved in drug trafficking and its distribution, Senior Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sirisena Herath said.

“Most young men who join these gangs are between 20 and 35 and are not educated, so they see crime as a way of earning a livelihood,” he said.

He also said most of the drug trafficking takes place in the Western and North Western Provinces in places such as Modera, Grandpass, Borella, Moratuwa, Maligawatta and Chilaw where underworld gangs and thugs operate.

“15 ½ kgs of heroin were found in Chilaw in the past month alone while a few grams of this drug were found in Kuliyapitiya,” he said.

On President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s orders Police officers are working round the clock to curb serious crime and have busted 26 underworld gangs involved in killings, drug trafficking and robbery, he said.

“There are over 21,000 prisoners in the country and 40% of them have not received any sort of education. Some children who have fathers or mothers in jail or one of their parents working in the Middle East, get used to living on the streets and joining gangs in order to survive,” DIG Herath said.

Senior lecturer in criminology at Sri Jayawardhanapura University M.W. Jayawardena said the economic and political changes which occurred after 1977 are the main reasons for the increase in gangs.

“When the political system changed in 1977, politicians needed the support of underworld gangs to win elections. In resorting to violence these gangs had the support of the politicians and the police,” he said.

“In our society there are rampant illegal activities such as prostitution, gambling and contract killings, with the latter requiring only a phone call,” he said.

However senior lecturer in sociology at the Colombo University, S.T.Hettige said underworld gangs sprouted because they felt the Government was not capable of taking care of them and taking to violence was an easy solution to get the attention they needed.

“Gang members can be placed at one extreme end of society since they are uneducated, ruthless and violent, while in the middle are civil servants and politicians who take bribes and do other illegal dealings within a hidden network,” he said.

He also said the Government and the police are not taking stern action as there are loopholes in our law which allow criminals to come back into society on bail while some are protected by influential people in society.

“All we can do is apprehend these criminals and produce them in court. It is up to the Justice Department to enforce the law and make sure these criminals remain in jail so that others would be deterred from resorting to similar activities,” DIG Herath said.