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| Sunday, 21 March 2004 |
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Ring of car thieves exposed with arrest of kingpin Criem Sunday by JAYAMPATHY JAYASINGHE Police have been able to expose the network of car thieves operating in Colombo and the outstations following the arrest of a kingpin in Colombo last week. The Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) sleuths recovered two stolen cars and two vans from Colombo and the Chilaw area following the arrest. CCD Director, SSP Sarath Lugoda said that they have unearthed a massive racket involving stolen vehicles during the past few years. "We are seeing the tip of the iceberg of a well organised racket involving underworld characters," he said. The CCD sleuths, on receipt of information, waited in ambush at Bauddhaloka Mawatha at the Kanatte end and arrested the person most wanted in connection with stolen vehicles. The man had visited his mother, residing at Bauddhaloka Mawatha. The kingpin, a well dressed middle-aged man posed as a big businessman. His modus operandi was to buy condemned vehicles from auctions and engrave their chassis numbers on stolen vehicles. The racket had been going on for quite some time, police said. The racket came to light when CCD officers acting on a tip-off visited a temple at Bloemendhal road, Kotahena and found an Inter-cooler Pajero parked there. The temple authorities told the police that two persons had brought the vehicle there for parking. They allow people in the area to park vehicles at the temple premises. Police found the brand new Inter-Cooler Pajero valued at about Rs. 4.5 million, abandoned and locked. Attempts to trace the persons who brought the vehicle there proved futile, prompting the police to assume the vehicle had been stolen. They had then improvised a set of keys to open the vehicle and tow it to the CCD headquarters. Soon the detectives were able to learn that the Inter-Cooler Pajero was robbed from a bungalow in an estate in Chilaw belonging to a cinema owner. A gang of six underworld characters armed with revolvers had stormed into the estate bungalow while the owner was away and having threatened to shoot the watcher, had robbed the Inter-Cooler Pajero, which was parked in the premises. The incident happened on October 20 last year. The watcher, trembling with fear, had complained to the owner soon after the robbers drove away with the vehicle. Later a complaint was logged at the Chilaw police station about the robbery. The police soon got cracking and arrested an employee of the cinema theatre who tipped off the robbers about the Inter-Cooler. The employee admitted to having received Rs 10,000 from the robbers for giving them the information. The stolen Inter-Cooler was then brought to Colombo for disposal by the underworld characters. Their attempt to meet the kingpin in Colombo failed as he was on his way to Kurunegala. However, they managed to trace him outside Colombo and a deal was worked out to dispose the Inter-Cooler for Rs. 10 million. The kingpin had then taken the Inter-Cooler to an expert tinker cum welder at Mulleriyawa and got the chassis numbers changed. The tinker was also paid Rs. 10,000 for the job. "It was such an expert job that even experts at the Government Analyst's Department were quite surprised," police said. The tinker's statement was later recorded by the police. After several months, the kingpin sold the vehicle to a businessman in Kotahena for Rs. 10 million. The businessman, having used the vehicle for some time, approached the kingpin and wanted his money back. But without returning the money to the businessman, the vehicle was forcibly taken away from him and given over to an underworld figure in Kotahena. However, according to police, after the recovery of the Inter-Cooler Pajero, there have been claims and counter claims by the cinema owner in Chilaw and the relatives of the Beruwela businessman who was abducted and stabbed to death while driving his Inter-cooler Pajero on the Galle Road. "It will take some time for us to resolve the dispute as several parts of the vehicle have been changed," police said. Meanwhile, CCD officers have recovered two stolen Dolphin vans and a Nissan March car. One Dolphin van was stolen by a gang at Borelesgamuwa while the other was stolen in Colombo. Two persons have been taken into custody in this connection. A wharf clerk attached to the airport had made a false complaint to the Mirigama police that his Nissan March was stolen while he was on his way from Kandy. He made a false insurance claim with assistance from the kingpin at Borella. However, CCD officers recovered the car from a person at Wilgamuwa. The man had been taken into custody for questioning. Last month CCD officers raided a house at Maligawatte and arrested a man suspected to be involved with the theft of vehicles. The suspect was employed as a chauffeur cum car thief by a man who ran a business selling stolen vehicles. Statistics from January to October 2003 indicate that 501 motor cycles, 211 three-wheelers, 25 cars, 140 vans, three buses, 40 lorries and nine jeeps had been stolen. In addition, 60-70 vehicles have been stolen during October. |
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