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Crime Sunday by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

The Wadduwa police probing the biggest robbery staged at a railway on the southern coastal belt where cash Rs. 8 lakhs was robbed at gun point, is now on the lookout for a crimson coloured car which they believe was used as the getaway vehicle.

"We suspect the robbers were not familiar with the geography of the area. They tried to escape from a road which was a dead end. This clearly shows that they have come from another area to commit the robbery " a senior police officer said.

The police are probing why the getaway car was parked at a dead end near a popular tourist hotel closer to the beach. According to several witnesses the car was parked at Thalpitiya cross road closer to a popular tourist hotel in the area. The distance from the Wadduwa railway station to the spot where the car was parked was about one kilometre. The driver had waited there patiently without attracting the attention of the neighbourhood. After all, the villagers were accustomed to seeing such vehicles parked in neighbourhood near tourists hotels.

Police said the driver had waited for nearly one hour till the three robbers turned up there with the sack full of looted money. There was cash altogether nearly Rs. 8 lakhs being the monthly salaries of railway employees labourers, linesmen, technicians and staff members. They were all deprived of their monthly wage owing to the callous attitude and slackness of the railway security service which had not foreseen a security lapse of this magnitude. Police say the heist was well planned and the robbers probably would have had inside information regarding security measures when large amounts of cash was being transported for payment of salaries. The salaries were taken in a Matara bound train which had left the Fort Railway station early in the morning and had reached Wadduwa around 8 a.m.

However like in an old western movie, the robbery took place at the Wadduwa railway station last Tuesday. Within a matter of few minutes everything was over. The bag containing the salaries of railway employees was robbed at gun point in a flash. The drama unfolded when the Matara bound train stopped at the Wadduwa railway station. Three underworld characters hanging around the Wadduwa railway station kept an eye on the movements of the station master. They knew for certain he would walk up to a compartment to collect the pay packets of railway employees. True enough the station master having walked up to a compartment collected the bag containing the cash from the shroff who was inside a coach. Thereafter he walked backed to his office with the bag and was about to put it inside the safe when a man held a long barrelled. 380 pistol to his head and demanded the bag. The assistant station master who tried in vain to foil the robbery was pushed aside by the robber. The station master by now was trembling with fear and gave away the bag to the robber. Meanwhile, two men who had accompanied the robber were seen hanging around the station master's office taking stock of the situation. They were there to overpower any one who came in the way of the robber. The robber having grabbed the bag made a quick exit along with the other two men. The three of them ran away a few yards and having mounted a motor cycle rode along a parallel road along the railway track towards Thalpitiya where the get away car was waiting. Thereafter two of the men had got into the car while the third man had escaped on a motor cycle. Several witnesses had told police later that the robbers had tried to escape from a road which was a dead end. Some persons had noted down the number of the motor cycle but subsequently it was found to be the number of a three wheeler.

A spokesmen for the railway security said that armed security men are provided at main railway station when huge sums of money are paid to employees. However in small railway stations like Wadduwa security men are not provided. It had been a customary practice for the station master to collect the pay packet and keep it in a safe for payment. Nobody had ever anticipated a robbery at a small railway station, he said.

Meanwhile Superintendent of Police Panadura U.A. Dharmasena had detailed a special team of police officers under the command of OIC Wadduwa Inspector Lalith Abeysekera to hunt the robbers.

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