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| Sunday,13 November 2005 |
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Breakthrough in Cinnamon Gardens heist Crime Sunday by Jayampathy Jayasinghe It was a typical working day at the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) Headquarters at Dematagoda last September 31 with policemen attending to their daily mundane tasks. There was nothing unusual reported that day. Policemen were seen pouring over heaps of files studying facts while others were busy typing reports. Some were interrogating suspects brought in there in connection with various offences. While all these were going on, Director Lugoda, sat in his room attending to some routine paper work nonchalantly. His telephone rang incessantly before Lugoda picked up the receiver. There was a man on the other end and the line with a timid voice. He was an underworld character who had something urgent to tell the veteran policeman, an informant who had previously tipped off the police on underworld activities. The police too regarded him as a valuable asset and rewarded him handsomely for his services. Armed heist He told the detective chief that four bad characters from Bandaragama were planning an armed heist but did not tell where they were going to strike. The men were dangerous and armed, he cautioned. Lugoda promptly alerted his men to be on stand by, as he was sure that a robbery was going to take place somewhere. The informant was a character from Bandaragama who used to hobnob with other underworld men in the area. He knew exactly what went on in his area. But no one ever knew or suspected that he was a police informant. Bringing cash Meanwhile two employees of a Communication Equipment Company in the Cinnamon Gardens area were bringing cash Rs. 1.7 million to their office in their office van after encashing a cheque from a bank in the Borella. The time was around 12.30 p.m. They almost came near their company and was about to turn their van into a lane when four unidentified persons travelling in a van blocked their passage. As soon as the two vans came to a halt, three men emerged, two brandishing pistols and ran towards the van which was carrying cash. The armed men threatened to shoot the company employees and snatched away the bag containing cash Rs. 1.7 million from them. In the meantime several spectators who gathered on the spot witnessed the incident. Due to panic the robbers reversed their vehicle back and forth and then crashed on to a parapet wall damaging the vehicle, slightly. Soon afterwards, the robbery was reported to the Cinnamon Gardens Police station, an alert was sounded to prevent the getaway vehicle from leaving the Colombo City Limits. In the meantime an informant who noted the number of the van informed the Colombo Crime Division. A thought flashed across Lugoda's mind. Monitoring vehicle flow He had a parcel of hope with the tip off. But the Cinnamon Gardens police was still handling the case which did not directly come under his purview. However within a short time after the robbery was reported and several police patrol cars and motor cyclists took up strategic positions in city limits and began monitoring the flow of vehicles leaving Colombo city limits. But some how the vehicle they were looking for, was not sighted to the dismay of the police. The police were at a quandary whether the vehicle had left or whether it remained within the city limits. Fearing the police would intercept their van in the Colombo city limits the ring leader of the gang got off the van at the Eye hospital junction along with the loot money and told his accomplices to come to a safe house in Moratuwa later. He then took a bus which took him to Galle road and thereafter boarded another bus which took him to his safe house. Meanwhile the three robbers drove their vehicle close to Beira Lake, Hunupitya where they changed the vehicle number plates. By now three hours had passed and the police blockade was withdrawn. The robbers then drove the vehicle safely to Moratuwa. Meanwhile the inquiry handled by the local police came to a dead end as they could not arrest the robbers or trace the van used in the robbery. CCD investigations Finally the case was transferred to the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) after several days for further investigation. In the meantime a tip off from an informant from Badaragama set in motion a cascade of events that led to an arrest of a robber. A team of CCD officers rushed to Bandaragama and arrested one of the robbers and recovered a locally made pistol with three rounds of ammunition. Police later recovered the false number plates of the van discarded at a shrub jungle in Slave Island Colombo. In the meantime police came to know that the ring leader from Bandaragama was an accused in a murder case. By then he had surrendered to the Magistrate Courts in Panadura through a lawyer and was remanded. Police teams are now looking for the other two suspects who are said to be absconding. An employee of the communication company too is being grilled with regard to the robbery. He is supposed to have tipped off the robbers on the movements of the cashier. Police have also recovered a substantial portion of the robbed money amounting to about Rs. 500,000 from the accused. |
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