Officers of the Illegal Assets Investigation Division have arrested Vindani Priyadarshani Suriyarachchi, known as “Thotalanga Poddi,” in connection with property allegedly purchased using the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Police said the arrest forms part of an investigation into assets believed to have been acquired through narcotics operations.
Rs. 87.3 million frozen
Investigators said properties valued at approximately Rs. 87.3 million, allegedly bought with funds linked to drug trafficking, have been frozen and rendered inoperative under the ongoing investigation.
Police said Suriyarachchi is expected to be produced before court.
An investigation that has widened
The case has been building for months. In June, the Colombo High Court ordered the seizure of two land plots and a three-storey house in Thotalanga worth around Rs. 30 million, in a Colombo 14 drug-trafficking probe run by the same division. Police at that time said the properties had been acquired through a woman’s drug trafficking activities together with her husband.
The figure now frozen is close to three times that amount, and Thursday’s development marks the first reported arrest of the named suspect in the case.
The Illegal Assets Investigation Division has been central to a wider police push to confiscate property acquired through crime. At a separate briefing on Thursday, police said initial legal proceedings had begun since 1 January to take into state custody illegally acquired assets worth Rs. 839 million, following Rs. 1.49 billion frozen in 2024 and Rs. 1.549 billion in 2025.
Update — August 14: the frozen assets itemised
The Daily Mirror and Hiru News reported the arrest a day later with an itemised breakdown, describing the suspect as a 53-year-old woman resident on Ferguson Road in Colombo 14 — the Grandpass area that includes Thotalanga. Hiru News gave her alias as “Poddi.”
According to the Daily Mirror, the investigation began after the Inspector General of Police received information about a drug trafficker on Ferguson Road who had allegedly accumulated substantial assets through the trade. Hiru News reported that the division first received a complaint about her in 2021.
The frozen property, listed by the Daily Mirror, comprises:
- an 8.66-perch plot of land in Ja-Ela valued at Rs. 1.4 million
- Rs. 5.9 million held across six bank accounts
- three shop rooms in Colombo 14 valued at Rs. 22.5 million
- a further shop room in Colombo 14 valued at Rs. 7.5 million
- a plot of land with a three-storey house in Colombo 14 valued at Rs. 20 million
Those items total Rs. 57.3 million, which is the figure both outlets carried. The assets were frozen under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, with the orders subsequently extended by the High Courts of Negombo and Colombo, the Daily Mirror said. Hiru News attributed the freezing order to the Colombo High Court.
The Rs. 57.3 million itemised here and the Rs. 30 million in Thotalanga land and housing seized under the June court order together account for the Rs. 87.3 million NewsFirst reported, though police have not published a consolidated figure. The Daily Mirror confirmed the arrest was made on August 13.
