Matara jewelry heist : Getaway vehicle of gunmen in custody

Colombo (News1st) :  A vehicle suspected to have been used by the armed thieves who robbed a jewelry store in Matara on the 22nd of June, was taken into the custody of the Kalutara Police Crimes Division today. Officers of the Crimes Division had discovered the vehicle during a special operation conducted this morning at a home on the Thalagala Meditation Centre Road in the Moragahahena Police Division. Police added that a man identified as Madapathage Kapila Kumara, the husband of the registered owner of the vehicle, has also been placed under arrest. The ongoing investigation has also revealed that a relative of the chief suspect Kosgoda Tharaka, known as Kosgoda Dilshan, had driven the vehicle to the scene of the theft. It has also been revealed that the same vehicle was used to transport three suspects wounded during the shootout to a hospital. Police say that the chief suspect Kosgoda Tharaka, the suspect Chamara who was killed in the shootout and Kosgoda Dilshan, had been renting the house belonging to the owner of the vehicle for about 4 months prior to carrying out the theft. The case pertaining to the incident was taken up before Matara Additional Magistrate R.D.K. Nilmini today. Chief suspect Kosgoda Tharaka did not appear in court today, citing threats to his life. The second suspect, his brother Madhuka Nirmal Perera was also unable to be present in court as he was in the prison hospital. The third suspect, Athula Kithsiri Kumara alias Narammala Mala, was produced in court today amid heightened police protection. The Additional Magistrate ordered that the suspects be remanded until the 16th of July. She also ordered that the suspects be produced in an identification parade on the day.