Gold necklace snatched, swallowed to avoid arrest

• Suspect produced before court 

By Suranga Rajanayaka  

An individual who robbed a woman of her necklace and  swallowed it to avoid arrest was produced before Nawalapitiya Magistrate  Lasanji Ratnayaka and remanded. The magistrate ordered the Prison  officials to administer him purgatives and recover the necklace.   The suspect had waylaid and robbed a woman of her necklace  and her mobile phone and fled from the scene. However, Nawalapitiya  Police, who initiated investigations, arrested the suspect, but he denied  any involvement in the robbery. Police officials who suspected him of having swallowed the necklace subjected him to X-ray examination to trace  the necklace in his stomach.  

Police told court that the suspect was a reconvicted criminal who had been involved in several similar incidents earlier.   They said that the suspect was fleeing through Hapugasthalawa and Ketabulawa to Harangala area when the police arrested him.   A police team under OIC Nawalapitiiya Police Harendra Kalugampitiya had conducted investigations and arrested the suspect.