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Video: Royce Fernando arrest not due to political pressure

23 Feb 2014 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Asserting that the arrest of Royce Fernando, a UNP candidate for the Western Provincial Council Election, was carried out only because of the evidences against him, the police said that there was no other reason for his arrest and that it was not done on anyone’s instigation.

Royce Fernando, a United National Party (UNP) candidate for the upcoming Western Provincial Council Election was arrested on Saturday in connection with the Rs. 15 million-robbery in Negombo on February 17.

“There were numerous reports in media regarding the arrest of Royce Fernando because of his involvement in politics. We want to state that there was no one behind the arrest of Mr. Fernando. The arrest was made because of the evidence we had against him and there are already four court cases pending against him,” said police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana today.

He said the accused had earlier been arrested for a robbery involving Rs. 444,000 in Peliyagodain1991, the robbery of Rs. 38,300 in Wennappuwain in 1993 and the robbery of foreign currency in Katunayake in 2012. He said there was also an investigation against him over a two million rupee foreign employment fraud.

Describing the arrests that were made in connection with the Negombo robbery, SSP Rohana said no one could get away from the police department regardless of the nature of the crime.

“It was bit of a challenge to find the culprits of this robbery. They had also shot a police officer at the scene of the crime. We were able to track down one culprit although he was wearing a full face helmet while carrying out the robbery. CCTV footage at a shop selling helmets revealed the culprit. We arrested him by tracking down the T shirt he was wearing when he purchased the helmet,” SSP Rohana said.

He said the man who was arrested was a friend of Royce Fernando’s driver. “That man and the driver had carried out the robbery. Royce Fernando was arrested on information given by these two. He had some of the robbed money in his possession at the time of the arrest,” he said. (SD & LSP)

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Video: Royce Fernando arrest not due to political pressure

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