CID busts credit card racket

Four men who were allegedly involved in a massive credit card racket along with employees of several petrol filling stations were taken in for questioning by Criminal Investigation Department sleuths last week, Police Media Spokesman SP Prishantha Jayakody told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

The racket came to light when CID sleuths were tipped off by three private banks between April 1 - 7 that some people who had stolen data from others’ credit cards had done transactions at six petrol stations at Kiribathgoda, Peliyagoda, Ja-ela, Maradana, Bambalapitiya and Ratmalana. Subsequently, six surveillance teams were deployed at the petrol filling stations to keep an eye on suspicious characters.

A few days later the CID head office was informed that a suspicious transaction amounting to Rs 25,000 had been reported from a petrol filling station at Ratmalana. Following the tip off, a suspicious person was taken in for questioning by the CID surveillance team. Seven credit cards were recovered from him.

Meanwhile another suspicious character who was with him at the time fled from the scene. The sleuths said that the man arrested hailed from Uppuveli in Trincomalee.

On further interrogation it was found that he had followed a computer course in Singapore and was the proprietor of a Communication Centre in Trincomalee.

The man who escaped from the petrol filling station at Ramalana was from Batticaloa. On a tip off, a team from the CID arrested the suspect at the Batticaloa - Colombo bus stand. The CID also seized six credit cards and two machines that receive data from others’ credit cards.

The CID later searched the home of the suspect at Uppuveli and seized two Laptop computers linked to the credit card racket.

A washing machine, furniture and gold jewellery were also seized by CID Sleuths. Following the investigation, two sub agents of the filing stations from Beruwela and Ratmalana were also taken in for qustioning.

“These two persons had helped the credit card racketeers to liase with the employees of the petrol filling stations.

The agents received 20 percent of the money from the credit cards “, CID sources said. Investigations are being conducted to ascertain their international ramifications, the CID said.

-JJ