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| Sunday, 27 June 2004 |
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Breakthrough in robberies of luxury vehicles by Jayampathy Jayasinghe The anti-Crime Unit at Police Headquarters has detailed four teams to investigate robbed or stolen Pajero and Prado luxury vehicles from the south and then smuggled across to LTTE controlled areas following the arrest of two persons at Gampaha recently. There were 24 complaints of theft of luxury vehicles from the Western Province. But none of them has been traced so far. Police suspect these vehicles may have ended up in LTTE controlled territory during the past few months. A senior police officer said there was a big demand for Pajeros and Prado luxury vehicles in the jungle terrain controlled by the LTTE. The anti-Crime unit at Police Headquarters which functions under DIG (Crimes) Jayantha Wickremaratne and SSP, Alfred Wijewardena and headed by Chief Inspector H. Samudrajeewa was able to unearth valuable clues regarding this vehicle racket.On receipt of information, Chief Inspector Samudrajeewa arrested two persons involved in the robbery of a Pajero worth Rs. 20 million from a businessman at Maharagama this year. The robbers also took away a wallet, credit cards and the mobile telephone of the businessman. A tinker-cum-painter and his brother-in-law from Gampaha were taken into custody following an abortive attempt by the latter to withdraw some money from a bank in Colombo. Even the stolen mobile phone had been registered on somebodyelse's name, police said.According to Inspector Samudrajeewa, the two men were believed to be closely linked to underworld figure Jinne who was killed recently. They had also confessed that a number of stolen vehicles have been sold to certain persons in the LTTE controlled areas. Earlier, the police arrested two persons known as "Dolphin Brothers" involved in a series of vehicle robberies. Vehicles such as Mitsubishi Pajero Inter-coolers, Toyota Prado Land Cruisers have been taken into Wanni areas before. Police say they do not have access to LTTE controlled areas to conduct investigations. According to Police Headquarters, the following vehicles have been robbed or stolen from January to October last year 501 motorcycles, 211 three-wheeler taxis, 25 cars, 140 vans, 3 buses, 40 lorries, 9 Jeeps. In addition 60-70 vehicles have been stolen during the month of October. The Colombo Crime Division (CCD) has also arrested a three-man underworld gang who had robbed a vehicle at gunpoint at Kalutara this year. |
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