Sri Lanka court refuses to stop fugitive police chief’s arrest

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court refused on Monday to quash an arrest warrant for the island nation´s fugitive police chief who is wanted over an officer´s death in a botched raid.

Inspector-General Deshabandu Tennakoon has been in hiding since the arrest warrant was issued in February and police have made a public appeal to help find him. He stands accused of authorising an ill-fated drug bust in 2023, allegedly against internal regulations, that sparked a gun battle between competing police units.

Despite Tennakoon being in hiding, he still managed to file a writ urging the arrest warrant be cancelled, which the Court of Appeal refused to grant in Monday´s ruling. Police said on Sunday they had deployed six special units to track down Tennakoon but were only able to trace his wife and son, who claimed they were unaware of his whereabouts.

Failure to locate the police chief has “undermined public confidence in the police force”, spokesman Buddhika Manatunga told reporters. A foreign travel ban has been imposed on Tennakoon in case he tries to flee the island. The state prosecutor told another court hearing last week that evidence had emerged of Tennakoon operating a paramilitary hit squad to carry out illegal activities.