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by Asanga Warnakulasuriya

All senior Police officials will meet the IGP once a month to discuss criminal trends, Colombo South DIG Sirisena Herath said yesterday.

"We will identify districts which have the highest crime rates and implement a strategy to specifically deal with individual districts," DIG Herath said.

The DIG revealed that during the past 10 months, Ratnapura and Anuradhapura districts had recorded the highest number of crimes. Ratnapura district alone recorded 58 murders followed by Tangalle with 53 and Nugegoda police division with 40.

The highest number of child abuse cases - 106 - was reported from Anuradhapura district. The least number of cases was reported from Hatton district with only four murders and five rape cases. There were no reports of child abuse in Hatton district.

On the contrary, there is a drop in murders and suicides compared to last year. The death toll has gone down from 151 last year to 138 this year. Suicides have also declined from 103 to 96. The number of child abuse cases has increased from 39 to 53 this year. Answering a question raised by a journalist on the recent crime wave, the DIG said the main reason was lack of education in rural areas and the breakdown of religious beliefs within the community. This has led to very serious cases like the father raping his own daughter.

Director of Police Narcotics Bureau, SSP Pujitha Jayasundara said that the Bureau had taken 188 persons and 13 kilograms of heroin into custody during the first 10 months of this year.

He revealed that there are 15 "A" grade drug traffickers yet to be arrested for selling drugs to over 100,000 addicts. DIG Herath said that the "triple concept" has proved to be very successful during the last three months. The concept is based on three institutions - Police, public and places of worship.

Through 3,745 societies islandwide, police had prevented 449 crimes and arrested 1,241 drug dealers. The triple concept has earned Rs. 833,532 to the Government through various fines.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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