Five officials at the Kaudulla National Park have been suspended for allowing safari vehicles carrying foreign nationals to enter the park without tickets and collecting money from them.

Wildlife Director General Ranjith Marasinghe stated that legal action has also been filed against 10 safari vehicles that entered the national park illegally.

In addition, the services of 04 volunteers working at the Kaudulla National Park involved in the incident have been terminated.

Kaudulla National Park is globally renowned as one of Sri Lanka's most exceptional national parks, continuously attracting both local and foreign tourists eager to view the beauty of its wild elephants.

A huge number of local and foreign tourists visit the park daily, contributing significantly to the nation's economy.


Against this backdrop, safari vehicle associations alleged for some time that SUVs carrying tourists to the Kaudulla National Park, which the Wildlife Department manages, were being allowed into the park without obtaining entry tickets.

They further allege that this is a large-scale racket where the money provided by foreign nationals is distributed among a different group.

Safari vehicle owners personally complained about this matter to Wildlife Director General Ranjan Marasinghe, which led to a special investigation team from Colombo conducting a sudden raid on Kaudulla National Park recently.


During the raid, the team discovered information about ten SUVs showing wild elephants to foreigners without any inspection or ticket purchase.

However, reports indicate that after the racketeers received information about the investigation team, the jeeps secretly exited the park.


This fraudulent scheme involved charging tourists from SAARC countries USD20 and other foreign nationals USD25, thereby preventing a large sum of money from reaching the state treasury.

Hiru News is paying attention to the future steps taken by the institutions against state officials involved in such unlawful and corrupt activities.