Rs 70m heist Suspects rounded up

It was one of the biggest robberies that took place in recent times where an armed gang robbed Rs. 70 million from a van transporting cash to HSBC Teller machines at Keleniya. The robbery took place at Wanawasala in the Telengapatha area on 24th September 2010 around 1 A.M. A policeman in uniform signalled the van to a halt. Thereafter three more robbers who joined the heist robbed the cash at gunpoint and rode off in two motorcycles with the loot.

Police stations were alerted following the daring robbery while a hand-picked police team detailed by the police hierarchy worked around the clock during the past three months to locate the robbers. But nothing was forthcoming and there was no clue whatsoever to track down the robbers. Finally on a tip off, the Terrorist Investigating Unit (TID) busted up the multi million robbery with the arrest of five suspects last week. Police were tipped off that a man who recently patronised a Casino Club in Colombo had busted up large sums of money on gambling.

He spent more than five lakhs of rupees a day at the Casino club that became the envy of other gamblers. Soon tongues began to wag and the club members who became suspicious of him tipped off the police that led to his arrest. Interrogation of the suspect led to further arrest of four other suspects linked to the Rs 700 million heist. Police said the reckless behaviour of the gambler from Ganemulla paved the way for the rounding up of the gang.

The gang included a policeman attached to a Colombo police station, an ex-employee of the HSBC bank and a man who owned a physical training centre at Ganemulla and a man who ran a fruit stall in Ganemulla and two other persons. The man from Ganemulla was an ex-soldier of the Army Special Forces. According to police sources the Ex-bank employee was the mastermind behind the robbery, who supplied vital information to robbers to plan out the robbery and execute it with meticulous precision. “Without his knowledge the robbery would have been a complete failure. It was he who briefed the other gang members regarding cash transportation to Teller machines in the Keleniya area.” police sources said. However the delay in tracking down the robbers was mainly due to absence of criminal records of the gang members involved in the robbery. “Most of them have been involved in small time crime and then Police did not have any clue regarding them until someone tipped off about a Casino player and another suspect involved in an extortion case.

The Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) sleuths after painstaking detective work was finally able to bust the Rs. 70 million heist. The TID has also launched a manhunt for the arrest of other robbers who are believed to be on the run. An ex-soldier from the Special Forces from Ganemulla has been identified as the ring leader of the gang. Police meanwhile has launched an investigation into the properties acquired by the robbers with the looted money. They include land, vehicles, gold jewellery, and other household luxury items. The suspect Police Constable, a resident of Ratnapura is said to have purchased land at Maharagama worth millions of rupees.

A part of the property purchased by robbers has been recovered, sources said. A suspect linked to the Rs 70 million robbery who was involved in a previous robbery had been in remand custody until recently. Police had elicited vital information from this suspect regarding the 70 million heist. Meanwhile a T-56 weapon in the possession of the robbers has also been recovered. Police have launched an investigation to ascertain how the T56 weapon came to his possession. The T-56 weapon had been in the custody of a notorious criminal who is currently in remand custody, sources said.

Initial investigations into the robbery was conducted by the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) who found several security lapses of the private security company entrusted with the task of transporting large sums of monies to be fed into Automated Teller Machines (ATM) in the Western Province. Although there were instructions to travel on main roads while transporting large sums of cash, the driver and its crew had not followed the instructions. Investigations have revealed that the van driver usually parked his vehicle near his home at Wanawasala while on his way to Keleniya.

The private security company had overlooked this vital security lapse which could have prevented the Rs 70 million robbery. Finally when the robbers encircled the van and demanded the shot guns of the two security officers escorting the cash they had simply surrendered without offering any resistance. The robbers thereafter emptied the cash into bags which they brought and rode off in two motorcycles in the direction of Wattala.