STF raid on gem mining site creates furore in Rakwana

The villagers have informed Rakwana Police that a group of Ratnapura Gem and Jewellery Authority officers came with a group of Police Special Task Force and chased away the people from an unauthorised mining site at Ramakorala in Rakwana Madampe estate, and they carried out mining for gems and loaded the mining soil in three lorries and left.

Officials of the Gems and Jewellery Authority along with the Police Special Task Force raided this mine on Monday 7. Villagers informed Police that the officials who came had a scanner that could identify the rocks and metals on the ground and after identifying the places where gems were found, they brought labourers from the nearby houses to dig up the gems.

The villagers said that at the end of digging for gems, they loaded about 230 sacks of soil in three trucks and left in the early morning on 8.

The villagers have been watching all this and the 119 Police Emergency number had also been informed about it. The 119 call division has informed the Rakwana Police to investigate this matter and accordingly, a team of officers, including the Rakwana Police OIC CI Anura Somasiri, had gone there and conducted an inspection.

Rakwana Police officers have confirmed that a group of Special Task Force troops were there and that they were Kahawatta camp officers. The Special Task Force told the Rakwana Police officers that they had come to provide security for a raid on the Ratnapura office of the Gems and Jewellery Authority.

After confirming the identity of the Special Task Force officers, the police have also identified the officers present there from the Gems and Jewellery Authority. It was found that only three officers were present there. The Police have also checked their duty ID cards. The police have even observed that they had various devices in their hands.

This illegal mine located in Madampe Estate has been a place of great controversy in the past. Two people also died recently after being buried under the soil of this mine which is being mined illegally.

In connection with the accusation made by the people, in an inquiry made to Rakwana Police Station OIC, Chief Inspector Anura Somasiri, he said that he personally went to the place on information that a group of people were engaged in illegal mining for gems at a mine from an area belonging to Madampe Estate and checked.

He also said that after confirming the identity of the people who came, steps were taken to inform the higher police officers about the situation.

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