News
Robbers play ‘cops’, while motorbike gunmen strike, again
View(s):By Senuka Jayakody
A Kotahena businessman’s home was robbed last Monday by two men who had claimed to be from the police.
The terrified family had come home to St. Benedict’s Road, Kotahena after a pilgrimage to Thalawila.
The robbers had fled with gold and money estimated to be worth Rs. 13.76 million. The police had recovered Rs. 854,000 in cash and a part of the gold items by the evening of August 9. Four suspects, two men and two women between the ages of 29 and 42 years were arrested in areas of Kandana, Ragama and Kotahena.
The police recovered about Rs. 12m by August 12 and claimed that all suspects have been arrested.
“The situation is serious since they not only stole, but pretended to be the police as well,” said the police media spokesman, Nihal Thalduwa.
This was one of a series of criminal activities reported in the past few days.
In Kehelbaddara, Gampaha, last week, two gunmen on a bike shot a 20-year-old in a hair salon on August 6. The youth died at Gampaha Hospital.
The police believe that the shooters killed the wrong person as the deceased did not have a criminal record.
The murder was unrelated to the killing of gangster “Pas Podda” on July 27, which took place in the same area, the police believe.
Suspects related to potential crimes involving children were also arrested.
Two men who kidnapped a 14 year old girl in Lunugala, were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF). The two suspects were her 18-year-old romantic partner. Another suspect was a 53-year-old man, who had lived in the house of her grandmother for 17 years. He had apparently taken care of her, whenever her father would beat her up.
On August 3, this man had asked her to join him for a walk. But they did not return. The villagers began a search and informed the Lunugala Police, who led a mission with the STF to find them, on August 11.
The girl and the two men were found under two trees having lived in a cave for eight days in Udakiruwa Reserve Area.
The two men were produced before the Magistrate’s Court on August 12, while the girl is to be sent to Badulla Hospital, where the Judicial Medical Officer would conduct more tests.
Also arrested was a 44 year old in Unawatuna by the Criminal Investigations Department. The suspect had lured school children from all over the country into sexual activities through a social media platform.
The arrest of Nadun Chintaka alias “Harak Kata”, the gangster involved in the recent shooting incidents in the Mount Lavinia Magistrate Court and at Ahangama also occurred this week.
A woman, believed to be his wife, was arrested along with him, in a joint mission led by the Police Narcotics Bureau and Interpol at the Dubai airport, when they were attempting to flee to Malaysia.
The police are also investigating the murder of the Pradeshiya Sabha member where they had arrested a 32 year old named Shiras Hari alias “Shiran”, who later died in police custody.
The STF claimed that he had fallen into a quarry in an attempt to escape, while on his way to show the location of weapons, on August 10.
Another 23-year-old, who had provided a rental house for the assassins, had been arrested, while travelling in a three-wheeler in the Himbutana area, on August 10.
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