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How the discovery of a thousand rupee ransom
note led to the arrest of the gang 
Police are confident Brilliant detective work in tracking down the gang
that kidnapped and got a 20-million rupee ransom from one of Colombo's
top businessmen has raised confidence among the police and the public that
such a case might never be repeated.
As a jubilant Police Chief hailed the breakthrough as a much-needed
boost in the fight against the rising crime rate, details of the long-drawn
kidnap drama was pieced together providing an amazing story straight out
of the pages of detective fiction.
Three caddies of a Colombo golf club, an underworld thug, a reserve
police sub inspector, three deserters from the security forces and a farmer
from Kurunegala, formed the gang that allegedly kidnapped former Aitken
Spence Chairman G. C. Wickremasinghe, detectives said.
Police Chief Lucky Kodituwakku on Friday said fifteen suspects were
in custody and they were looking for two more.
The police had recovered Rs. 17 million of the 20 million ransom paid
to kidnappers. In addition a 9mm silver-plated Browning revolver, two cell
phones, a pair of handcuffs and an Army uniform have been recovered.
The police on Friday displayed the Rs. 17 million recovered. The money
was in brand new thousand rupee notes. The kidnappers had devised various
methods of hiding the money. The reserve SI had buried his share in a hole
dug three feet deep, together with the revolver at the back yard of his
home in Balangoda.
He had bought this revolver for Rs. 40,000 and police have not yet been
able to trace who sold this weapon, detectives said. The three caddies
also had buried parts of their share of the ransom money in the backyards
of their homes.
Some of the money was recovered ingeniously hidden in cellophane bags
behind the door-frame of a refrigerator while more was discovered hidden
at the base of a pedestal fan, according to the police.
IGP Kodituwakku said this case was unprecedented in the history of crime
busting in Sri Lanka as it involved the largest ransom demanded for abduction
which had shaken the " business community to its core."
Conceding the public concern about the rising rate of crimes as a result
of desertions in the security forces, the police chief said that this case
being solved in seven days would act as a deterrent and mar any plans for
similar schemes.
"We would like to assure the business community, there is nothing
to fear.
All action will be taken against perpetrators of crime, irrespective
of who is involved," he said.
Initial police investigations centered on a government politician, and
a Tamil political party. However a turning point in the investigations
came when the Hatton National Bank's Bambalapitiya branch discovered one
of the thousand rupee notes paid as the ransom in one of the deposits made.
The deposit was made by a tea kiosk in the area. This discovery soon led
to a major breakthrough by the top level police sleuths on Monday, when
the People's Bank at Meegallewa in the Kurunegala district discovered a
deposit of Rs. 209,000 had been made in thousand rupee notes bearing the
G/66 denomination.
Police released to the media, the number series on the ransom notes,
five days after the kidnapping, hoping it would help snare Mr. Wickremasinghe's
abductors.
Their hunch paid off, when the Manager of Meegallewa People's Bank,
Mr. Somaratne, made that all important call to the police Crime Detective
Bureau (CDB) chief Bandula Wickremasinghe and Sam Samarasinghe of the Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) rushed a police team to Meegallewa the moment
the discovery was reported to the police. It was found that a farmer by
the name of 'Herathbandara' had deposited some of the ransom notes, at
People's Bank Meegallewa.
When questioned by police sleuths, Herathbandara had said he got the
money by selling his produce. Suspicious, police spy's kept a watch on
Herathbandara's house.
Noticing that he was not alone, police raided his house. At the farmers
house were four youth reading Sinhala newspapers which gave details of
the daring kidnap. Police immediately arrested the four youth. One, named
Victor, is an underworld gangster, wanted for at least ten other major
robberies. The second, is a deserter from the Sri Lanka Air Force named
Ruwan, the third an Army deserter, Kapila and the fourth a Navy deserter
called Anil Kaluwarachchi. Intensive interrogation by the police unraveled
an amazing story. These four confessed that they had worked in collusion
with three caddies at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. According to Victor,
the initial plan had been to rob the Golf Club and share the spoils.
However the caddies had opposed this plan saying the Golf Club had only
some 7 lakhs in its kitty and was not worth the effort, according to detectives.
The caddies, M. Ananda, H. Sumanagala and Priyankara Perera then mentioned
that instead it would be far more lucrative to rob Mr. G C Wickremasinghe.
Sumanagala chuckled as he told them, "Wickremasinghe Mahathya is rich
and a superb target," adding the 67 year old golfer would be fully
worth the risk. They laughed among themselves, as Sumanagala again drawled
"G C Mahathya will give any amount, he has enough money." From
this point the caddies and the other four conspirators began to conduct
a surveillance on Mr. Wickremasinghe.
This watch on their target went on for one month. Two other henchmen
were roped into the nefarious scheme. Janaka and Chaminda, who operate
stalls at the Manning Market in Pettah soon joined the fray.
As the plan began to take shape, Janaka and Chaminda said they knew
a Sub Inspector at the Hiniduma police station who would be able to help
put the kidnap drama into full action. It is this Reserve Sub Inspector
(RSI) who wore the uniform of a police officer and confidently stepped
out to stop Mr. Wickremasinghe at the D S Senanayake roundabout at Borella
that fateful Monday morning. One other deserter wore a police uniform supplied
by the RSI, while Ruwan who had deserted the Air Force wore that forces
uniform. Mr. Wickremasinghe was taken to Gothatuwa in Angoda , and held
at a now disused factory previously run by Koreans to manufacture plastic
goods in Kaduwela. Prior to the abduction the Navy deserter Anil Kaluwarachchi
followed the unsuspecting Mr. Wickremasinghe for three consecutive days,
watching if he would take the same route. Indrajith Parakrama Gunatilleke
Ariyasinghe of Balangoda was a reserve police officer with the Ratnapura
police at the time Nalanda Ellawela PA MP was murdered. As a result of
this incident he was one among many police officers transferred out of
Ratnapura and sent to Galle where he ended up as an RSI at the Hiniduma
police station.
On Monday March 22, he applied for leave telling the OIC of Hiniduma
that he needed some days off in order to attend an almsgiving in memory
of his dead father. He returned to Hiniduma police station on Tuesday March
30.
On Monday 29 March as night fell the conspirators all assembled at the
disused factory at Kaduwela. They carefully went over the kidnap plan as
each was assigned a task in the drama to unfold early next morning. The
RSI was told that his role was to stop Mr. Wickremasinghe's vehicle, being
the only genuine police officer. Early next morning Tuesday 30, they assembled
in their respective uniforms and got into a van that had been hired at
the rate of Rs. 1000 per day, from a person named 'Tudor' at Ragama. Victor
drove the van and the gang arrived at Ward Place by 5.30 am that morning.
A few minutes after 6am they spotted G C Wickremasinghe's familiar Toyota
Land Cruiser driven by his driver Nandana. At the Kynsey Road traffic lights
the kidnappers overtook the Land Cruiser stopped a few yards ahead and
out stepped the RSI who flagged down G C's vehicle. Nandana, not realizing
it was a hold-up prepared to produce his drivers licence. Instead, he was
shocked as the RSI pulled him out and threw him into the back of the vehicle.
The gang then all climbed in except for one who drove the van, blindfolding
Mr. Wickremasinghe, and holding him down they proceeded to drive the Land
Cruiser. His driver was also blindfolded. At a half way point it was too
crowded in front and they stopped and put Mr. Wickremasinghe into the back.
When they reached the disused factory, one of the kidnappers tugged too
hard on Mr. Wickremasinghe in getting him out of the vehicle. Convinced
he was going to die, the 67 year old golfer thought he would not go without
a fight. Pulling at his blindfold he pulled a hard left handed punch at
one of his abductors. In the ensuing struggle he managed to see who they
were and some of his surroundings. Finally inside the factory Mr. Wickremasinghe
was tied to a chair and asked if he wanted breakfast. Tamil music played
in the background. Meanwhile the kidnappers speaking among themselves said
they had been banking on using their victims cellular phone to make the
call for ransom. Mr. Wickremasinghe that morning did not carry his phone.
This caused some panic and resulted in some of the kidnappers pawning bits
of their jewellery, a gold chain and a ring. With the money they purchased
two cell phones with cards, and made their first call to Mrs. Anoma Wickremasinghe.
They demanded Rs. 20 million but she told them she only had Rs. 2 million.
They called a second time saying they would kill her husband if she did
not cough up the dough. She asked them to give her two hours to raise the
money, warning that her husband was a heart and pressure patient and that
if he died they would get no money. This warning produced results. The
kidnappers, concerned they would lose out on the lucrative cash deal, immediately
tucked a pillow onto the chair Mr. Wickremasinghe was bound to and at a
certain point even massaged his chest and arms with oil. The kidnappers
in all, made at least 25 cellular phone calls to Mrs. Wickremasinghe. Once
informed she had the money ready they put Nandana, still blindfolded into
the Land Cruiser, drove it down a gravel road for some twenty minutes and
thereafter reached a smooth highway where they again drove for a further
twenty minutes. They suddenly stopped and removed his blindfold and Nandana
saw he was at Nawinna. Before 10pm that night the driver reached home.
Mrs. Wickremasinghe was ready to leave with the money drawn from Seylan
Bank. The police by this time insisted they should accompany her, hiding
in the back of the Land Cruiser. However both Mrs. Wickremasinghe and her
children were adamant the police should not go. "We want our father
back alive," they said.
Bandula Wickremasinghe, CDB Chief said "we were forced to respect
the wishes of the family at that stage." By 11pm Mrs. Wickremasinghe
was on her way with the ransom money. Along the way the kidnappers kept
in touch with Mrs. Wickremasinghe directing her which route to take. Victor
and Ruwan using the two cellular phones directed her first to Panchikawatte
then to IDH and finally to the junction at Angoda. Here they asked her
to stop the vehicle, remain inside, and send only the driver Nandana with
the cash in two bags, in a three wheeler. Nandana was directed to proceed
down a gravel lane. He was met by Victor and Ruwan who took the two bags
of money and on two motor bikes, each with the cash stacked on the petrol
tanks, made their getaway. By this time the kidnappers had informed Mrs.
Wickremasinghe that her husband would be released half an hour after they
had made sure the entire Rs. 20 million was there. They warned her that
what they had asked for was 200 lakhs and not 20 lakhs and that she had
better not make a mistake. Back home the Wickremasinghe family waited.
After nearly two hours they received one more phone call telling them Mr.
Wickremasinghe was on his way. Police sleuths who tracked down the areas
from which the cellular calls were made found that around this time a phone
call was made by the kidnappers to a popular taxi service 688688. They
however abandoned this plan of sending Mr. Wickremasinghe back in a car,
when the taxi service asked for their telephone number. Apologising profusely
to Mr. Wickremasinghe at not being able to call for a car to take him home,
the kidnappers then gave him Rs. 1000/= for taxi fare, from the 20 million
ransom now in hand, and took him blindfolded to Moraketiya junction in
Kottawa where he was released. 
Barefoot, and his trouser torn, Mr. Wickremasinghe was put in a three
wheeler and sent home. The three caddies received Rs. 400,000/= each as
a share of the spoils. Police recovered over Rs. one million from the RSI
on March 7 at around 2.30 pm, when police sleuths from the Crime Detective
Bureau (CDB) arrived at Ratnapura and together with the HQI of the Ratnapura
police station arrested SI Indrajith Parakrama Gunatilleke Ariyasinghe.
Special Report
Editorial/Opinion Contents
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