An individual has been arrested in connection to the incident of five people being shot dead in Beliatta on Monday (Jan 22).
The Ministry of Public Security said the suspect is a 54-year-old man identified as Saman Kumara.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the suspect had driven the SUV at the time of the shooting and that he had also planned the murders.
The suspect was arrested by a Police Team from Matara, while they had also seized the Pajero Mitsubishi jeep used to carry out the shooting.
Fiver persons, including the Leader of the Our Peoples Party Saman Perera, were killed in the shooting reported in Beliatta.
The suspects had followed the victims who were travelling in a Defender and had opened fire at them after they had stopped for refreshments after exiting the Southern Expressway in Beliatta. The suspects had then fled the scene in the same SUV.
Police investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of the shooting, which is suspected to be a retaliation move over a triple murder in Tangalle last year. (NewsWire)
