SL hunts for police chief over deadly raid

Sri Lankan police were searching for their chief on Sunday after a court order for his arrest was issued over the killing of an officer during a botched raid, an official said.

Inspector-General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon has been missing since a magistrate in the island's south ordered his arrest on Friday, following allegations that he had ordered the raid on December 31, 2023.

"We went to his home to carry out the arrest warrant but he had gone into hiding, leaving behind his bodyguards," a senior officer told AFP.

He said the court had also imposed a foreign travel ban on Tennakoon, 53, to stop him from leaving the island.

Tennakoon ordered a unit from Colombo to search a hotel in Weligama, a resort town about 150 kilometres (95 miles) south of the capital, for illegal drugs.