{"id":148175,"date":"2025-02-22T17:10:51","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T00:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=148175"},"modified":"2025-02-22T17:10:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T00:10:51","slug":"security-tightened-in-western-and-southern-provinces-acting-igp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/02\/22\/security-tightened-in-western-and-southern-provinces-acting-igp\/","title":{"rendered":"Security tightened in Western and Southern provinces &#8211; Acting IGP"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy Adaderana<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Priyantha Weerasuriya stated that criminal activities in the Western and Southern provinces have increased.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, he assured that security has now been strengthened in these provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He made these remarks during a special press conference held at the Government Information Department today (22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Acting IGP also noted that the Sri Lanka Police have taken steps to ensure security within court premises in the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While police officers have been deployed outside the courts, he clarified that no police officers are assigned for security within the court premises.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, a private security agency is currently responsible for internal security, and discussions will be held with relevant authorities to address this issue, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, the Acting IGP revealed that criminal gangs continue to be led from foreign countries, emphasizing that such gangs no longer receive political protection.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also pointed out that in the past, criminals operated freely under political patronage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Highlighting an increase in crimes since 2023, the Acting IGP stated that criminal activities are being orchestrated not only from abroad but also from within prisons.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To counter this, security operations within prisons have been intensified, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, he disclosed that some criminals attempt to flee the country not only by air but also via sea route.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, he assured that the Navy and Coast Guard have heightened operations to prevent such attempts and apprehend the fugitives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy Adaderana Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Priyantha Weerasuriya stated that criminal activities in the Western and Southern provinces have increased.&nbsp; However, he assured that security has now been strengthened in these provinces. He made these remarks during a special press conference held at the Government Information Department today (22). The Acting IGP also [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crimes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}