Immigration Deputy Controller Arrested for Issuing Passport to Crime Figure

A senior official at Sri Lanka's Department of Immigration and Emigration has been arrested on charges of facilitating the issuance of a passport to a known organized crime figure. The deputy controller, Gayanth Prasanga, was taken into custody by the Colombo Fraud Investigations Bureau.

The investigation revealed that an application for a passport was processed without proper scrutiny, using the personal data of one individual but the photograph of another. This individual has been identified as Henage Dinuka Chaturanga, also known as Kehelwatte Dinuka, who was deported from India to Sri Lanka and is reportedly a member of an organized crime gang.

Police stated that the suspect was arrested for aiding and abetting the forgery of a passport, an offense under section 45(2)(1) of the Immigration and Emigration Act. The 51-year-old suspect resides in Madikanda, Matara. The arrest was made following a directive from the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court concerning a separate case involving the creation of a fraudulent passport.