Officers of the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Mihintale Police took into custody a hunter with a trap gun in his possession yesterday (12) at noon when he was returning home with a female deer that had been suckling a fawn; he had killed it using the gun so that he could sell the meat at higher prices on Poya Day.
The suspect hunter had been arrested while a group of officers including the Officer-In-Charge of the Anti-Corruption Unit had been engaged in duty in the Nochchikulama Forest Reserve located close to the Doramadalawa Purana Rajamaha Vihara in the sacred premises of Mihintale. The hunter is a father of five girls.
The hunter had set up the trap gun in the jungle and killed the doe and he had been dragging the animal home when he was arrested. When on suspicion the surrounding jungle areas was inspected subsequent to the arrest, the Police said that they discovered the fallen fawn which had been hit by a bullet in the spine and was lifeless in its back legs. Police said a bullet had pierced the doe's neck. Police suspect that the suspect would have killed the doe in order to sell the meat at higher prices on Poya Day.
The injured fawn which was about one and a half years old was handed over to the Wildlife Office officials in Anuradhapura by the Police. The suspect who was taken into custody was due to be produced at the Magistrate's Court in Anuradhapura yesterday evening. The suspect was taken into custody by Officer-In-Charge of the Anti-Corruption Unit Sub-Inspector of Police U. B. S. Anura Kumara, Sub Inspector of Police Dayananda, Sergeant Jayatilleke (45923) and Police constables Jayatilleke (37296) and Seneviratne (38873) under the instructions of the Officer-In-Charge of the Mihintale Police Station Inspector of Police Rukmal Ratnayake.
