On the morning of September 17, a special team from Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department walked straight into the Department of Immigration and Emigration and arrested a 42-year-old assistant controller.
The official, who lives in Gampaha, is accused of helping an organized crime figure get a fraudulent passport. Police are keeping details tight for now. They haven't disclosed who the criminal is, whether the passport was actually printed or used to flee the country, or how the official managed to pull off the scam inside the system.
This isn't the first time the department has caught fire for this kind of insider deal. Back in June, a major scandal broke when another official—a former immigration officer posted overseas who later moved to the Presidential Secretariat—was busted for forging passports to help gang members escape. Police noted, however, that there is no confirmed link yet between June's arrest and this September case, leaving it unclear if both belong to the same syndicate.
Outside the immigration building, amid the endless roar of motorbike exhausts, locals passing by are talking. People know that if the very officers guarding the doors are giving green lights to criminals, border security doesn't stand a chance.
CID detectives are currently digging deep into the passport issuance workflow and tracing internal connections to see how far the rot goes. Exact charges against the 42-year-old official and his court date remain subject to ongoing legal procedures.
