The Mt. Lavinia police arrested a man yesterday in connection with the burglary at the house of Nishantha Wickramasinghe, chairman of SriLankan Airlines and brother of First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa.

Police sources said the suspect was a 33 year old drug addict and a resident of Araliya Mawatha, Ratmalana. The police, who had been investigating the theft of a Rolex watch worth Rs 4 million and about Rs. 5 million worth of foreign currency, had arrested the man after receiving a tip off.

Following information received from the suspect, police had been able to recover the wrist watch and a portion of the foreign currency - which had been hidden inside a fisherman’s house. It is believed that a friend of the suspect (also a drug addict) had been living in the fisherman’s house.
The suspect had spent a portion of the loot on drugs. He is to be produced in court shortly. (Indika Ramanayake and H.M.Dharmapala)