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| Sunday, 3 July 2005 |
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In Bandaragama, Horana areas police rope in marauders Crime Sunday by Jaympathy Jayasinghe The Police were really baffled when a string of robberies were reported from Bandaragama and Horana areas for the past few months. Several petrol filling stations, cigarette vans and boutiques in the area were robbed by marauding armed gangs roaming about in the area. Police were quite hapless as there were many robberies reported during this period and worst of all was that there weren't any clues or witnesses to follow up these complaints. The strategy adopted by robbers were to attack least guarded places like petrol filling stations, cigarette vans, boutiques and get away with large haul of cash with least effort. It was common knowledge that large amounts of cash would have been in the possession of victims. Chief Inspector Prasad Ranasinghe OIC Bandaragama and Sub Inspector K.C. Liyanaarachchi OIC (Crimes) have been working around the clock to solve these cases but without success. There weren't any clues or leads that could be followed to apprehend the armed gang who are still at large. Their identity was not known to the police. Even residents in the area keep mum through fear of reprisal by the vicious gang. But as time went by, a lead came all of a sudden. An informant who knew the activities of the underworld well turned up at the police station and was willing to talk to the OIC (Crimes) Liyanaarachchi about recent robberies and hold-ups in the area. Sub Inspector Liyanaarachchi listened carefully to what the man had to say. Something told him that the man was not lying as his story appeared to be credible. That evening with OIC Bandaragama Chief Inspector, Prasad Ranasinghe, Inspector Liyanaarachchi mustered a posse of policemen to conduct a lightning raid on a house at Wellmilla in Bandaragama where the gang leader Chandana was held up. The police knew that Chandana was a mastermind wanted in connection with several robberies in the area. In fact he had stolen 26 motor vehicles in Dehiwela area alone and was wanted for several other robberies. The irony of it was that his mother was a retired policewoman who dedicated her entire life to serve in the police department. Chandana (26) was residing at his wife's place at Welmilla, Bandaragama. The day after meeting the informant police decided to act quickly. Their strategy was to conduct a lightning raid on the house of Chandana in the wee hours of the morning. On the following day a small group of armed policemen went to Chandana's house at Welmilla. Everything seemed to be quiet in the morning except for the non-stop barking. The time was around 5.30 a.m. The policemen slowed their pace as they came near Chandana's house. Once they entered his compound the policemen tiptoed up to his house and took up positions around it so as to prevent him from escaping through a back door. The Policemen then burst into the house through the front door and found Chandana on the bed. They sprung on him and took him into custody. They searched the room and found a rare model of a 7.65 calibre issued to the armed forces personnel along with a magazine with some live bullets. After questioning Chandana they learnt that the weapon belonged to Suranga a notorious criminal from Narahenpita. Inspector Ranasinghe and Liyanaarachchi questioned the suspect at length at the Bandaragama police station. They gathered that a man named Ramesh residing at Elvitigala, Narahenptia, had taken part in several robberies with Chandana in the past. Inspector Liyanaarachchi quickly despatched a police team to Ramesh's house at Narahenpita. They searched his house and found a Browning pistol. After questioning Ramesh police learnt that a man named Thushara residing at Welmillawa was in possession of a 9.mm. Browning Pistol. A police party was despatched to Thushara's house where they found a 9.mm. Browning. The suspect was taken into custody by the police. In fact Ramesh and Thushara had worked closely with Chandana and had participated, masterminded and executed in several robberies in Bandaragama and Horana areas. Following the arrest of these two suspects, police recovered a Pulsar and a Suzuki motorcycles from Padukka area. The motorcycles were used by the suspects as get-away vehicles after they robbed Rs. 210,000 from a bank in Horana about three months ago. Chandana's gang were responsible for robbing cash Rs 480,000 from a lorry transporting rubber at Milleniya in Bandaragama area. They also robbed a man of his three sovereign gold chain at the Horana petrol filling station. The same gang entered a hardware store in Horana and relieved the proprietor of his gold chain. However on a tip off, the police recovered five sovereigns of melted gold from a man dealing in stolen property at Atalugama. The same gang was responsible for robbing a 15 sovereign gold bracelet from a proprietor of the Gorakana petrol filling station at Panadura. Among the other daring robberies staged by Chandana and his gang were the robbery of a cigarette van at Moragahahena. The gang intercepted the van and robbed Rs. 68,000 cash and one hundred thousand cigarettes and the van. The van was later found abandoned in Padukka area. They robbed a Dolphin van ferrying cigarettes at Bandaragama three months ago and collected cigarettes to the value of Rs 600,000 and cash Rs 29,000 found inside a safe. The van was later found abandoned at Matugama. Further investigations by Bandaragama police have shed more light on the crimes committed by Chandana's underworld gang. It was revealed that Chandana's gang had often borrowed automatic firearms from an underworld character named Suranga in Narahenpita for the purpose of staging robberies. The robbers usually have to keep a deposit of Rs 100,000 with Suranga for the weapons. It was further revealed that Suranga, a notorious drug addict consumes around 10-20 packets of heroin a day. Investigations into the robberies are directed by Superintendent of Police, Panadura U.A. Dharmasena. |
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