Police detain two children on world travel expedition on bicycle

Galnewa police said they took into custody two nine-year-old children who had embarked on a travelling mission by bicycle on Saturday.

Three children, who are the residents of Helabodugama and the students of a school in Galnewa, had planned initially to proceed on a mission using a map to visit Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. One student has given up the idea because the bicycle could not accommodate the three-member mission. However, the other two children had decided to proceed.

In the meantime, the parents of the missing children had lodged complaints to the police who had accordingly carried out a search operation in the nearby vicinity with the assistance of CCTV footage. The parents had also advised the police that one child had not taken part in the travel mission because the bicycle could not accommodate all three. 

A father of a child had alerted a relative in the Maho area about the mission of these two children and with the assistance of CCTV footage, the two children were traced and located at the Maho Railway Station and handed over to the police.

The OIC of Traffic Division M.M.R.C Munasinghe advised the parents to be vigilant of the children's' movements in future.

A team of police officers carried out the operation on the direction of SP Wijitha de Alwis of Thambuttegama police. (Senaka Bandara)