A man suspected of secretly gathering information about prison officers has been arrested by Sahaspura Police, police said.
The suspect was a close associate of Mohamed Azman Sherifdeen, who died during the unrest at the New Magazine Prison, and is reported to have served as Sherifdeen’s motorcycle rider. Sherifdeen was allegedly involved in a double murder committed on Watarappala Road in the Dehiwala area last year.
Police said the suspect had been released on bail three days before the unrest at the New Magazine Prison.
Investigations further revealed that he was a close associate of an overseas-based organised crime figure known as “Kos Malli”, according to police.
Recordings recovered from phone
After the arrest, police examined the suspect’s mobile phone and recovered several audio recordings of conversations he had held with “Kos Malli”.
The recordings reportedly contained information gathered about prison officers, including references to preparations to harm them, police said.
NewsFirst reports a plot to kill two officers
NewsFirst, reporting on the same arrest, put the allegation more specifically: it said examination of the suspect’s phone revealed he had been planning to murder two prison officers on the instructions of “Kos Malli”, whom it described as an organised criminal and drug trafficker operating from overseas. It identified the suspect as a 30-year-old resident of Badovita.
Ada Derana’s account, published first, framed the case as the gathering of information about prison officers and referred only to preparations to harm them. Both outlets describe the same arrest by Sahaspura Police, the same recovered audio recordings of conversations with “Kos Malli”, the same release on bail three days before the New Magazine Prison unrest, and the same link to the slain gunman. The difference is one of characterisation rather than of underlying facts, and the murder allegation rests on the NewsFirst account.
NewsFirst rendered the dead inmate’s name as Mohamed Asman and said he had acted as the gunman in a double murder on Watarappola Road in Dehiwala last year.
The arrest comes amid continuing scrutiny of security inside the prison system following a series of violent incidents this year. A prison officer was arrested over drugs at the same facility earlier this month, and the government has been working on a joint mechanism for inmate safety.
Earlier reporting on the Magazine Prison unrest rendered the dead inmate’s name as Asman Sherifdeen; Ada Derana gives it as Azman in its latest report.
