Prime suspect in Wasgamuwa double murder arrested

The first suspect in the Wasgamuwa National Wildlife Park double murder was arrested by the Kandy Region Special Investigation Unit last Friday.

The suspect B. Thilakaratne alias "Konhora Malaya" was arrested while hiding in the house of a relative at Dewanagala in Mawanella, police said.

Police were on the lookout for him following the brutal killing of the care-taker of the circuit bungalow and a guide of the park on the night of January 28.

The two victims, Samarakoon and Dingiribanda were found hacked to death in the bungalow by the police the following day.

Initially, police believed that the LTTE had killed them, but within a week investigators arrested four men from Dehiattakandiya, who had joined a hooch-party in the bungalow on the night of the killings.

These arrests led to the recovery of the shot gun issued officially to the caretaker of the bungalow and several other articles that had been robbed from the bungalow.

The arrest of the prime suspect was made by a police team led by Chief Inspector M. Farook and IP M. Rafaithu on the directions of DIG (Central) Kingsley Ekanayake and SP Gamini Seneviratne.