An active-duty Sri Lankan Army officer has been arrested by the Kandy Police in connection with a series of chain snatchings in and around Kandy, including a high-profile incident at the Kandy Lake Round.
According to reports, the officer, a long-serving member of the military currently attached to the Weli Oya Army camp, allegedly snatched a woman’s gold chain and fled the scene on a motorcycle. Surveillance footage from CCTV cameras helped police identify the suspect as a resident of Thalathuoya.
The officer was reportedly lured into Kandy Town by undercover investigators and subsequently arrested. Police say he had applied for leave from his duties and used the time to carry out multiple thefts across the region.
During the arrest, police recovered the stolen chain as well as another gold chain valued at Rs. 500,000, which had allegedly been taken in a separate incident and later pawned in Kandy and Galaha. Investigators believe the army officer had been involved in several chain-snatching operations over an extended period.
Further investigations revealed that the suspect had invested the money obtained from the stolen jewellery into a pyramid scheme.
He has since been remanded after being produced before the Kandy Magistrate’s Court and is due to appear in an identification parade today. Investigations into additional thefts involving the same individual are ongoing.
The case has raised concerns about accountability within the Sri Lankan military, as well as the broader issue of impunity and criminal behaviour by members of the armed forces, particularly given the military’s continued presence in civilian life across the island.
Earlier this year, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake admitted that "Sri Lanka is a criminal state," echoing the concerns of numerous human rights organisations regarding extrajudicial killings and systemic abuses perpetrated by state forces.
His comments came in the wake of a scandal involving missing military weapons and revelations about widespread misconduct within the police force.
