Police boots on sale in Pettah

16 January 2012 01:06 pm

A police warehouse labourer and two footwear traders were produced in court and remanded till January 27 on charges of having pilfered 420 pairs of boots from the police warehouse.
 
Police told Colombo Fort Magistrate Kanishka Wijeratne that the boots, which were being readied for distribution among police personnel, were allegedly smuggled out of the warehouse by a labourer, Tilak Ravindra and sold to two footwear traders at Malwatte Road in Pettah.
 
In his complaint to the police, the assistant warehouse manager said he saw the suspect carrying a box of boots out of the warehouse. Based on the statement made by the labourer, the two footwear traders P. Mohammed and Abdul Salman Samsudeen were arrested and 35 pairs of shoes recovered.
 
Mr. Mohammed had admitted to having carried on these activities for some time and had paid the labourer Rs.500 for each pair of shoes and selling them at a good profit.

The Fort police are carrying out further investigations. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)