Police to probe biggest foreign currency heist

by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

DIG Colombo Rohan Abeywardena has directed SSP Sarath Lugoda, Director of the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) to investigate the biggest foreign currency robbery reported recently where robbers got away with Rs 25 million in foreign currency notes from a private Money Exchange Bureau at Wellawatte.

According to OIC Crimes Wellawatte Police station, Chief Inspector Deepthi Wijewickrema the amount of stolen foreign currency notes is much more than what was reported earlier. Experts from the Police Technical Branches who visited the Money Exchange Bureau at Galle Road, Wellawatte had found several finger and palm prints at the scene.

The robbery took place around 7 pm when the Money Exchange Bureau was about to close for business. A person who was dressed in a Police Chief Inspector's uniform stormed into the bureau with seven others and shut its main door preventing the employees from leaving. Thereafter the robbers took the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) hidden in a wall to prevent it falling into the hands of the police. The robbers then got the safe opened and emptied the US Dollar notes, and other foreign currency notes into a sack and rushed through the front entrance.

While escaping one of the robbers armed with a T-56 automatic weapon had opened fire on the cashier severely injuring both his legs while he grappled with the robber who attempted to flee with the sackfull of currency. The robbers had then got into a white van which was parked close to Fedrica Road and fled. The injured man was rushed to the Colombo South Hospital from where he was transferred to the Colombo National Hospital.