Challenge of extraditing Makandure Madush and other criminals in Dubai back to Sri Lanka

Makandure Madush

By a Special Correspondent

The notorious underworld criminals and drug smugglers including Makandure Madush, who were arrested in Dubai, could not be brought back to the country as Sri Lanka’s Parliament has not yet endorsed the Extradition Treaty signed by Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a top legal expert said.

“The Treaty was signed by the two nations in 2002 April 29 but it was not placed before the Parliament for the approval yet. Therefore, this agreement is not a valid agreement and the Government cannot initiate extradition proceedings to bring them from Dubai under the provisions of the Treaty,” former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said.

Most-wanted underworld kingpin Makandure Madush and 30 suspects including the underworld criminals Keselwatte Dinuka, Kachcipani Imran and Sunshine Sudda of Mirissa and three artistes – singer Amal Perera, his son Nadimal and actor Ryan Van Rooyen – were caught when Madush was holding a birthday party for his six-year-old son at the Al Marina Resort and Spa in Dubai on 5 February. 

Being in the Interpol Blue notices, Makandure Madush alias Samarasinghe Arachchilage Madush Lakshitha has been evading arrest for the past few years and operating underworld activities and the drug mafia in Sri Lanka from his hideout in Dubai until he was arrested in a joint operation by the Dubai Police and Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force (STF) officials early last week.

Rajapaksa said that under the existing Extradition Treaty, the Sri Lankan Government was obliged to extradite UAE nationals but there was no legal binding for UAE to handover Sri Lankan nationals back to Sri Lanka.

“It is most unlikely that the underworld suspects caught in Dubai will be allowed to return to the country, as this Extradition Treaty has provisions only to handover suspects of the UAE back to them,” he told Daily FT.

According to Rajapaksa, another option to extradite the criminals in Dubai Police custody is to request the UAE Government under customarily process under the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

“Under this process, if a respective country requests to extradite their criminals, they have to respect the request, but in this case I have my doubts whether Dubai officials will extradite them as all of them are wanted criminals,” Wijedasa said.

Intelligence officials of Sri Lanka’s law enforcement authorities had been tirelessly working together to nab Madush – the most wanted criminal in the recent past – to break the well-organised network that smuggled massive quantities of drugs into the country. 

The tip-off to arrest 80% of the criminals involved in the country’s underworld was given by Madush’s rivals, a top STF official said.

Madush (40), who was a mechanic and a hospital attendant earlier, operated his underworld network from his cell in Remand Prison and later, when he was released on bail in mid-2015, had fled the country on fake travel documents.

Police sources said that Madush was living under the name Ajith Avanka Wickamasinghe, which was also the name in his fake passport.

Although he was still organising his underworld crimes and maintaining drug flow effectively, the Police couldn’t get an Interpol notice until recently against him as he was not convicted in a court due to lack of evidence to prove his involvement in most of the gruesome killings done by his associates under his command.

The unexpected dramatic raid, according to sources, was planned following the information leaked by another underworld criminal named ‘Kalu Sagara,’ who was a friend of Madush earlier, turned rival now. The Police suspect that he is also living in an Arabic country.

This secret plot hatched by Kalu Sagara, who had eventually become a competitor in the drug mafia in Sri Lanka, which was being handled more by Madush, had made the Dubai-Sri Lanka joint midnight operation successful.

Having a lavish party to celebrate the sixth birthday of Madush’s son, he had sponsored the air tickets to those who flew from Sri Lanka. Out of 100 guests at the party by the poolside of the hotel, most of them had left the venue as it was midnight but the most of the wanted underworld kingpins in Madush’s network were enjoying the pricey drugs offered free at the party and they couldn’t sniff out anything unusual.

 

Angoda Lokka 

Being a chain smoker, Chandana Lasantha Perera a.k.a. ‘Angoda Lokka,’ who stepped out to smoke a cigarette, had escaped without signalling to those who were enjoying the music and songs sung by Amal Perera when the officials attached to the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Dubai Police charged into the venue searching for Madush and the clan.

In another raid, Angoda Lokka, who fled the hotel before the Dubai Police together with Sri Lanka’s STF arrested Madush and his close associates, was also arrested by the Dubai Police on Sunday when he was hiding in another hotel. The blood sample tested for drugs has revealed hashish in his blood.  

Angoda Lokka was a key suspect in several major killings including that of underworld kingpin ‘Samayan’ (Aruna Udayantha Pathirana), another five prisoners and two Prison officers in a cold-blooded attack in Kalutara. 

Attorney-at-Law Udul Premaratne, who flew from Sri Lanka to appear before the Protocol Officer of the Bur Dubai Police station on behalf of singer Amal Perera and his son Nadimal, has confirmed that 31 of those who had been arrested last week were languishing at the station.

“We will only appear to bail out or deport the two artistes who had gone to sing at the party. We will not appear for others – underworld criminals and drug smugglers,” Premaratne said.

A top STF official said that the Police and the STF had expedited islandwide raids to net the close aides of the notorious drug smugglers. Andarawatte Charmara is among the 20 noted drug smugglers and criminals nabbed by the Police and the STF in their joint operations during the past four days.

Although the Police said that the STF had raided the houses belong to the artistes and found evidence to prove their involvement in the drug trade, the family members denied their links to Madush or the other drug dealers who were arrested in Dubai.

“My brother is a singer and has no connection with drug dealers. He even doesn’t know Madush personally,” Amal Perera’s brother Sohan Perera told the media after the STF searched his house at Boralesgamuwa.

He said his brother went to perform at the party with his son without knowing that the party was organised by Madush.

 

“My father is a good soul”

Actor Ryan Van Rooyen’s daughter Natalie Van Rooyen also vehemently denied her father having links to underworld thugs and said he was a good soul.

“He said he was going to take part in a show in Dubai. He is a good person,” she lamented.

However, during the sudden raid by the STF at Amal Perera’s house, they had found some empty cocaine cartoons, a digital scale and a bag with hidden pockets at Ryan’s house in Dehiwala.

Meanwhile, Ryan’s vehicle had been taken into Police custody at a raid carried out at the hotel belonging to another underworld kingpin named Sunshine Sudda, who is also in Dubai Police custody. CCTV footage was also obtained by the Police from his hotel in Mirissa.

It was also revealed that out of 31 arrested in Dubai, most of the wanted criminals had first fled to India, where they got fake passports to fly to Dubai.

It was found that out of 31 arrested, the blood and urine sample of 30 tested for drugs had been positive. 

Most-wanted underworld kingpin Makandure Madush and 30 suspects including the underworld criminals Keselwatte Dinuka, Kachcipani Imran and Sunshine Sudda of Mirissa and three artistes – singer Amal Perera, his son Nadimal and actor Ryan Van Rooyen – were caught when Madush was holding a birthday party for his six-year-old son at the Al Marina Resort and Spa in Dubai on 5 February 

Refuting allegations   

Refuting the claims that the raid was carried out following a tip-off given by Madush’s rival, a senior STF official said that it was the outcome of a long-term intelligence-sharing mission with the Dubai officials and the ‘homework’ done by the STF with the CID and other law enforcement authorities in Sri Lanka which are engaged in busting underworld crimes and narcotics.

Addressing a gathering in Polonnaruwa last week, President Maithripala Sirisena said that there were a lot of people to claim credit for Madush’s arrest.

Referring to a Minister’s statement that they had laid the trap for Madush’s arrest over the past few years, the President said that one must be content with what one had done rather than claiming credit for other’s achievements.

“We see in the media today so many claims for the success in nabbing the drug dealer who is also an underworld leader,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had told Parliament that the Dubai Government would take necessary legal action against Madush as he was arrested there.

“The courts in the countries where the criminals are arrested can take the final decisions on them,” he said.

Former Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayaka commended the significant contribution given by the Special Unit of the Police to bust organised crimes, the Narcotics Bureau and the STF to arrest Madush and gang and said that the plans were mooted when he holding the Law and Order ministerial portfolio.

“When UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Sri Lanka in 2017, PM Wickremesinghe and I requested his assistance to nab Madush. The former UAE Ambassador also supported our efforts. I must thank all of them for their consistent support and facilitation,” he said.

According to Ratnayaka, DIG M. R. Latiff, the Commandant of the Special Task Force (STF) and his team and the Organised Crime, Police Narcotics Bureau and the STF had been following Madush for a long time and he had narrowly escaped a few times.

The shocking news of a person with a diplomatic passport being along those arrested at Madush’s party prompted Minister Mangala Samaraweera to call for a probe into the allegation that one of his coordinating secretaries was among them and former Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena refuted the claim that one of his sons was among those arrested in Dubai.

 

Samaraweera urges full probe 

Finance and Mass Media Minister Samaraweera in a letter to IGP Pujith Jayasundara has requested him to initiate a full investigation into the alleged reports that a coordinating secretary of his staff was among those arrested in Dubai and he possessed a diplomatic passport provided by the Minister.

Parliamentarians Thenuka Vidanagamage and Dilan Perera claimed that the person arrested with the diplomatic passport was a secretary to Minister Samaraweera but Samaraweera said the allegation was totally baseless and brought disrepute to his 30-year political career.

“I request the IGP to investigate this to reveal the truth to people and also to reveal the politicians who have links with Madush and other organised criminals,” he said.

Minister Samaraweera also urged the IGP to find out the names of the politicians who helped Madush to flee the country.

Samaraweera said that legal action would be taken against those who made those allegations and also the irresponsible media institutions which had published the false news. 

The Police have also arrested Shanaka Madhushanka alias Sirigampola Olumara with two grams of heroin from his house at Wennapuwa. With the arrest of Madush and his clan in Dubai, the informed sources said that some top politicians and top law enforcement officials and some of the family members of those in political circles are shaken as the pictures which have gone viral in social media show their close connections with some of the prominent underworld figures who are now in Dubai custody.

A  former State Minister and Parliamentarian Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena has teamed up with his son Pasanda Yapa Abeywardena, a member of the Southern Provincial Council, to deny that a family of theirs has a diplomatic passport and to also deny speculation that they have strong links to underworld drug kingpins.

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said that those in the Mahinda Rajapaksa camp and Ranil Wickremesinghe camp were in fear of their names being revealed by Madush. 

“Most of them have links to Madush and the underworld. But we are not afraid of any underworld kingpin as we have no links to them,” he said. 

According to sources, the Government had already sent a detailed report to Dubai on initiatives taken by the Defence Ministry under the guidance of President Maithripala Sirisena to bust the thriving drug mafia network linked to notorious underworld criminals like Madush and Angoda Lokka who are operating from abroad.

Confirming that the Foreign Affairs Ministry had started a dialogue with the UAE Foreign Ministry, Secretary Ravinatha Ariyasinghe told the Daily FT that talks were going on with close coordination with the Defence Ministry.

“We have also handed over a full dossier about Madush and other criminals arrested in Dubai,” he said.

According to Police sources, Maligawatte Kanjipana Imran, Keselwatte Dinuka, Seeduwe Dimuthu, Talalle Sanjee, Ibly Pulla Palam Ajmi, Amila, Anta, and Faizer Jaliber Siyam of Maligawatte who are wanted by the Police for killings, underworld crimes and drug smuggling are among the 31 being held at Bur Dubai Police Station.

When contacted Police Spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekara said that Police would continue with raids to nab drug dealers and users under its routine operations.

 

Police continues to nab thugs  

In a chain of search operations and raids that took in Matara District, the Police were able to recover 23 T-56 live bullets and 18 Army uniforms from the house of Anushka Kavishlal, known as ‘Janga,’ who is also in the ‘wanted’ list and linked to Madush and his criminal activities. He is being charged for several murders and robberies.

The Sri Lanka Police and the STF are conducting investigations to nab the close associates of the arrested drug kingpins. During the past three days, the Police and the STF have arrested about 20 suspects in connection with crimes such as drug smuggling and organised crimes.

The STF had searched the house of Gayathri Muthumali, Madush’s wife who lives in Kaburupitiya, and she had requested the Police officials to help her get her son, who was taken to Dubai by Madush, back.  

A raid carried out by the Weligama Police took Ryan Van Rooyen’s vehicle into custody from a hotel belonging to underworld criminal called Sunshine Sudda in Mirissa. 

32 politicians linked to underworld 

Meanwhile, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABoC) has claimed that it is investigating complaints on politicians and State officials who are suspected of owning assets earned by misusing their privileges or having illegal links to the underworld.

CIABoC, it was reported, had received over 400 such complaints against politicians and State officials and had found that 32 politicians had earned illegally using their links to the underworld.  

According to the law, the politicians are bound to declare their assets and properties and also to reveal their sources of income.

“The public can lodge a complaint at CIABoC against any politician they suspect has become unusually wealthy. We will investigate into their sources of earnings and present wealth,” a top official of the CIABoC said, adding that 32 politicians were now under CIABoC scrutiny and would be named soon. 

The notorious underworld criminals and drug smugglers including Makandure Madush, who were arrested in Dubai, cannot be brought back to the country as Sri Lanka’s Parliament has not yet endorsed the Extradition Treaty signed by Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under the existing Extradition Treaty, the Sri Lankan Government is obliged to extradite UAE nationals but there is no legal binding for UAE to handover Sri Lankan nationals back to Sri Lanka

While some politicians are hurriedly making ‘self-proclaimed introductions’ on how they started their businesses and revealing their ‘humble past,’ some are trying to whitewash themselves; those who had earned sudden wealth are trying to seal off their connections with notorious underworld kingpin Madush, who had lavishly spent money on weddings, birthday parties, etc. of these politicians and also funded their political campaigns during elections.

 

“Don’t extradite them”

However, the ordinary people, especially the parents of young drug addicts who suffer the most and are living shattered lives, urge the UAE Government to punish them there in Dubai.

“We are living in hell and no one is helping us to get our children out from the addiction. We can’t live when looking at them dying slowly,” a group of parents, who visited the Welikada Prison to see the inmates who have been given short-term imprisonments for consuming heroin, told Daily FT.

A mother of three grown children cried saying her younger son, who was now convicted for six months, had got addicted through a friend who is a small scale drug dealer in Negombo.

“We were doing well and had good, decent lives earlier. We tried our best to stop his addiction but failed as they sell drugs openly. My son had cut his fingers when he was in prison last time as he couldn’t bear the withdrawal symptoms from drugs. I curse those who sell drugs,” she said.