In the aftermath of prison raid
Underworld threatens prison officials, families

by Norman Palihawadana
Several prison officials have been reportedly threatened by members of the underworld after a successful raid conducted by a special squad of the prisons on Monday night where several cellular phones were recovered from the possession of underworld figures in the Colombo remand prison.

Commissioner of Prisons, Rumy Marzook told ‘The Island’ that a special squad from the prisons was detailed to conduct raids on cells following information that prisoners managed to smuggle in drugs and items like cellular phones.

Marzook said the cellular phones taken into custody had been in the possession of well — known underworld criminals in remand cells.

The commissioner said that following the raid on the cellular phones, the families of the officials who conducted the raid have been threatened by unknown gangs believed to be members of the underworld.

The families of these officials have complained that these gangs had visited their homes and threatened them with death if they did not pressurise their men to drop charges on the suspects in the remand who possessed cellular phones.

Commissioner Marzook said that in an earlier raid cellular phones were detected while being smuggled inside lunch packets brought from outside.

He said all steps would be taken to continue raids inside prison wards and cells to prevent drug abuse inside prisons and the use of cellular phones by prisoners.

He added that he would request the police to take action on the threats hurled at the families of officials who conducted the raid. "We will urge the police to protect them", he stressed.