Three police officers, three others identified in Slave Island Rs. 10 m robbery

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

Six suspects, including three police officers who were arrested in connection with the robbery of Rs. 10 million that took place at Slave Island, were identified at an identification parade by witnesses.

When the case came up before the Colombo Fort Magistrate, the eight suspects who were allegedly involved in the incident were produced at an identification parade. Inspector Ananda Adikari, the OIC attached to the traffic police division of the Fort police, and the second suspect Weerapperuma Janaka were not identified by the witnesses.

However, the eight suspects were further remanded till 5 June by Magistrate Thilina Gamage.  The six suspects who were identified at the identification parade were sub inspector Mahesh Hemantha, sub inspector Menaka Seneviratne, police constable Sameera Roshan, Gayan Amith, Dulip Aravinda and Maduramperumage Chaminda.  

It was revealed that an amount of Rs. 3.5 million had been recovered by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) from the suspects’ possession.

The arrests were made after businessman Kanapathipillai Thevanashan complained to the CCD that the suspects had planned and carried out the robbery of Rs. 10 million which he had obtained from a private bank in Slave Island on a sale of foreign currency. He said the cash was packed into a travelling bag and was being transported in his van.

Thevanesan said that as the van approached Nawam Mawatha, a man dressed as a traffic policeman ordered the van to be stopped. He said that three men then got out of a defender parked nearby and asked him and his driver to get into the defender before it pulled away. Thevanesan said that they were dropped at a lonely spot in Kotte. He said the suspects were armed and had assaulted him.