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| Sunday, 22 August 2004 |
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CID busts foreign fake currency racket by Jayampathy Jayasinghe A foreign currency racket has been busted by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) where fake Euro notes have been detected for the first time in Sri Lanka, police said. August 15 Sunday was relatively a peaceful day in Colombo without any major incidents reported. Being a holiday, most shopping malls were closed except the five star hotels in Colombo where foreign tourists were either checking in or out. Mingling with the tourists at a five star hotel in Colombo were plain clothes CID men waiting for the arrival of a wealthy businessman named Sisira whom they had promised to meet that day. The sleuths posing off as big time foreign currency buyers had made discreet inquiries over his mobile phone whether they could purchase currency from him. The businessman believing them to be genuine buyers of foreign currency had agreed to meet them at a five star hotel in Colombo. The sleuths, meanwhile took up positions in and around the hotel and were anxiously awaiting the arrival of a Prado Land Cruiser vehicle around 3.p.m. that day. The sleuths, however, were frustrated as the businessman did not turn up. Shortly after, a Prado Land cruiser approached the hotel premises and the sleuths welcomed him and introduced themselves to him. On searching the businessman, they found three fake one-hundred dollar notes and a one-hundred Euro note in his trouser pocket. Being further questioned, he admitted that he had received them from an Israel national at a five star hotel in Colombo. The sleuths were soon on the trail of the Israel national. They entered the hotel room and tapped on the door and, when it opened, they barged in. The Israel national vehemently denied having fake notes in his possession. But, when they forced open the in-built safe in the room, they found a wad of fake dollar and euro notes comprising 440 US dollar notes of one-hundred denomination and 90 Euros of one-hundred denomination. "The notes looked more or less genuine ones. " a CID officer said. In fact, the racket was exposed a fortnight ago when a man had tendered eight fake one-hundred US dollar notes to a cashier at a hotel at Bandarawela. The proprietor of the hotel, who felt suspicious informed SSP Bandarawela Division, Edison Gunatilleke, about it. Later, a police party from Bandarawela nabbed the man who attempted to encash fake US dollar notes. The Bandarawela police subsequently informed the Counterfeit Bureau of the CID Headquarters, Colombo. Soon, a CID team was on its way to Bandarawela to interrogate the suspect. The suspect, according to CID, was a 38-year-old unemployed man named Wyman from Kadawata who had previously worked at several restaurants. He was a go-getter who was fluent in English . In fact, he had worked previously for the millionaire businessman Sisira from Kadawata, who was now in CID custody. The businessman had given him fake dollar notes on several occasions for encashment and his transactions were done at selected jewellery shops and hotels at Wellawatta, Ratnapura, Balangoda and Bandarawela. Further investigations revealed that businessman Sisira had returned to Sri Lanka after a visit to USA. The sleuths are probing whether he had been involved in a forged US Dollar and Euro currency racket with the locals in the past and his connection with the Israel national. Meanwhile, the Interpol Headquarters in Paris has been notified about this fake currency racket. |
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