Sri Lanka opens prison riot probe as toll rises to 27

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka launched an investigation on Tuesday into its deadliest prison riot in years, as the death toll from clashes between rival drug gangs rose to 27.

Armed police and commandos were not sent into the prison but were deployed to guard the perimeter of Negombo prison, as authorities tightened security following the clashes on Monday that also wounded more than 100.

Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told parliament on Tuesday that a criminal investigation had begun alongside a government-appointed commission.

Police said the death toll was at least 27 people, including another inmate who died overnight.

They also said a preliminary investigation has found that rival gangs clashed inside the prison in the capital’s north before overpowering guards, seizing their weapons and opening fire.

Nanayakkara said inmates had also smashed a CCTV camera in the chaos.

Doctors said 97 victims, including 23 prison officers, are still in Negombo hospital with gunshot wounds, cuts and severe bruises.

Another 19 inmates were being treated at a hospital in Colombo.

Seven guards were killed when they tried to break up the rioting on Monday, a police official told AFP.

Nanayakkara, who visited victims in hospital on Monday, was shocked by the scale of the violence.

“Human beings have died, and there is deep shock over that. This is something that should never have occurred,” he said.

An AFP photographer outside the prison saw prison buses transferring some inmates out of the facility as police kept the area cordoned off. Officials confirmed they were being relocated to other prisons.

Prison authorities said foreign nationals held at Negombo were not caught up in the violence but were transferred as a precaution.

Scrutiny over Sri Lanka’s chronically overcrowded prison system has been renewed as official figures show the country’s prisons are operating at roughly four times their intended capacity.

Rioting at another prison in Sri Lanka in December 2020 killed 11 inmates and wounded 117 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading the government to release hundreds of inmates from overcrowded jails.