Rs.10m Robbery: 7 including 3 cops arrested
8 March 2013 03:33 pm
Seven suspects including three police officers were arrested today in connection with the Rs.10 million robbery in Slave Island last month, police said.
Police spokesman Buddhika Siriwardena said a police team led by Colombo Crime Division DIG Anura Senanayake made the arrests at various locations in Colombo.
Two traffic police officers and one Ministerial Security Division (MSD) member were among those arrested.
The police spokesman said a part of the stolen money had been recovered while investigations are continuing to retrieve the balance.
In a daring daylight robbery, a group led by a person posing as a traffic policeman robbed Rs. ten million from a businessman in the Gangaramaya area in Slave Island on February 12.
The businessman was travelling with his wife towards the Gangaramaya Temple area with his wife when a traffic policeman had ordered them to stop the van.
Within minutes a defender had come and parked in front of the van. Four men had got down from the vehicle and pulled away the driver from his seat.
The four men had got into the van with the person dressed as a policeman and fled towards Pitakotte where the driver was thrown out of it.
According to the victim, the suspects had shouted at him saying ‘If you want the van come to Peliyagoda and collect it’.
He had then lodged a complaint at the Colombo Crime Division (CCD). The van was found abandoned in Dematagoda a few hours later.
(Sanath Desmond)
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