Reply To:
Name - Reply Comment
Last Updated : 2024-04-23 21:35:00
26 February 2010 11:03 am - 18 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Jamila Najmuddin
Police are on the lookout for a conman who had managed to deceive people through newspaper advertisements and collected over Rs 1.6 million. One of his accomplices has already been arrested, Colombo fraud bureau Director SSP Maxie Proctor told Daily Mirror online.
According to SSP Proctor the newspaper advertisement had urged unsuspecting customers to place their deposits in bank accounts in return for huge loans, land or vehicles for a very low interest rates.
Once the advertisement had appeared in a weekend newspaper on February 14, a suspecting customer had alerted the police resulting in an investigation being launched by the fraud bureau team led by Police Sergeant S.I. Ekanayaka and his team members 18523 Udayakumara, 38700 Chanaka and P.C. Driver 34797 Sunil Shantha.
The suspecting customer who had initially contacted the suspect soon after reading the advertisement had been told to deposit Rs.15,000 immediately into an alleged lawyer’s bank account. He thereafter told the customer that he would meet him in the next few days.
The customer had also been advised by the alleged conman to telephone him on a new number as the one advertised was not in use.
However SSP Proctor said that the telephone chip which had been advertised had only been purchased on February 9 and before it could be registered the alleged conman had purchased a new telephone number.
The Fraud Bureau, in an attempt to catch the suspect, had sent a decoy to his home in Anuradhapura a few days after the advertisement had appeared. When the decoy had reached the suspect’s home, his mother, having been told by the decoy that he was a friend of the suspect was advised to return back home in the evening.
Once the decoy had returned back to the house in the evening, the suspect’s mother had told him that the suspect was closeby after which the decoy had alerted P.S. Ekanayaka’s team, who were closeby to be on alert.
Upon seeing the suspect, approaching his house, the police had immediately arrested him and brought him to Colombo for further investigations. “As soon as he was arrested he told the police that he had lost his National ID Card and the one who had stolen it, would have been the real conman. However based on the evidence we have collected against him, we knew we had our man,” SSP Proctor said.
The suspect, upon being brought to Colombo had been produced to court and has been remanded until March 5.
SSP Proctor has sought clearance from IGP Mahinda Balasuirya to set up an intelligence unit in the Fraud Bureau to detect these kind of activities.
The SSP also said that he had obtained clearance from the IGP to create public awareness over such incidents.
Friday, 26 February 2010 08:14 PM
What rubbish!
Saturday, 27 February 2010 09:17 AM
Caveat emptor! Let the customer beware of the things he buys, the newspapers can alert the police after getting the payment(!) Someone intelligent should help the gullible who always wants to be duped; profitability, avarice and quick gains and sometimes want of money and poverty too can lead to this situation.
Saturday, 27 February 2010 06:55 AM
He conned over million ruppees of very poor people publicly and you want the police to let hiom go because you want parliamentarians arrested first?? Are you losing your senses? or simply writing here while sitting on your brain?
Saturday, 27 February 2010 04:09 AM
What a detailed account of the police bravado!
Why don't the IGP appoint these police (officers?) to solve the unsolved cases of scribes?
Saturday, 27 February 2010 04:07 AM
Perhaps Sakvithi is not supposed to be caught?
Saturday, 27 February 2010 03:33 AM
Excelent work done by police keep it up
Saturday, 27 February 2010 02:26 AM
CSI Colombo...well done!
Saturday, 27 February 2010 01:18 AM
Mostly bad policemen with such culprits
Friday, 26 February 2010 10:39 PM
With the highly publicised epic episodes of recent times associated with great conmen of the likes of Sakvithi, Danduwam Mudalali and the rest, still fresh in the public's mind, it is indeed surprising to hear that there are gullible people in the country who, so easily, fall prey to the machinations of these fraudsters. Are we living in a paradise island of many fools?
Friday, 26 February 2010 11:20 AM
But the Police couldn't catch... "Sakvithi" the Super Conman !.
Friday, 26 February 2010 04:11 PM
My goodness there are many con men in parliament and in the
government. Get them first before you get the small ones.
Friday, 26 February 2010 02:04 PM
Thank you SSP Proctor. I suggest that all paper advertisements of this nature be subject to scrutiny by the Police Intelligence Unit and the culprits brought to book.
Friday, 26 February 2010 01:40 PM
This is just a minor con man. The if you wanna see major con men, just look at a stage of a political rally. Any party.
Friday, 26 February 2010 12:50 PM
wow .. too much of dramas for just 1.6 million . i have no words but to call all those deposited money to this guys account fools . coz no one else will do that . if i had this mans mobile number and access to the provider even i can catch this man with out seeking the help of Police :-)) . y our police force cant use their super duper intelligence unit to catch people like Sakvithi ??? at least try to find out how some beggars became ministers .
Friday, 26 February 2010 12:26 PM
Foolish people are so much in this country. Still they believe culprits and now they should learn a lesson.
Friday, 26 February 2010 12:24 PM
Plenty to catch in the Parliament
Friday, 26 February 2010 12:05 PM
Colombo fraud bureau is good catch innocent people. They don't have the guts to dare any big time culprits. Shame Shame
Friday, 26 February 2010 11:56 AM
Some police top brass have a hand in it & will never catch the culprit
Add comment
Comments will be edited (grammar, spelling and slang) and authorized at the discretion of Daily Mirror online. The website also has the right not to publish selected comments.
Reply To:
Name - Reply Comment
On March 26, a couple arriving from Thailand was arrested with 88 live animal
According to villagers from Naula-Moragolla out of 105 families 80 can afford
Is the situation in Sri Lanka so grim that locals harbour hope that they coul
A recent post on social media revealed that three purple-faced langurs near t
