Teenager lured into prostitution

A 19-year-old girl from a poor family in the Sabaragamuwa province came to Kaduwela with her boyfriend and settled down in a small rented house. The boy friend who was a cab driver was away from home most of the time.

A three wheel taxi driver who befriended her has lured her into prostitution by promising to pay her a big sum of money.

The OIC Walana Vice Squad, Inspector Duminda Balasuriya received a tip off from an informant that a three wheeler taxi driver and his wife are using an underaged girl for prostitution at Maharagama. The informant said the three wheeler driver used to bring the young girl to hotels at Maharagama, Homagama, Nugegoda, Wellawatte and Bambalapitiya to offer her services to his clients. The girl had been sold to prospective clients for sums ranging from Rs.10,000 to Rs.16,000, police said. The driver had offered her services only to a few trusted clients for two months.

Director of the Walana Vice Squad, SP Palitha Fernando, instructed the OIC to investigate it and rescue the girl.

Accordingly a police decoy posing as a rich businessman met the three wheeler driver and sought the young girl's services.

The driver wanted Rs. 16,000 from the decoy to procure a 15-year-old girl for two hours at a hotel provided by him.

Civvies

Two policemen in civvies were detailed to follow the three wheeler on a motor cycle while OIC Balasuriya along with Sub Inspector Seneviratne and Woman Police Sergeant Mangalika left the Walana Vice Squad around 12 noon on the following day with the decoy and reached Maharagama around 1.p.m. The three wheeler taxi driver had been waiting impatiently at Maharagama to meet the decoy giving further instructions on the route and the time to meet him over the mobile phone.

The decoy was dropped at Maharagama and he was instructed to meet the driver near the National Youth Services Centre (NYSC). The two policemen in civvies followed him discreetly. When they arrived at the NYSC they spotted a man getting off a three wheeler and walking towards the police decoy. The policemen noted the number of the three wheeler and alerted the OIC on his mobile phone. The OIC in turn spoke to the Police Post at the Registrar of Motor Vehicles at Narahenpita and found that it was owned by a woman residing at Pannipitiya.

The three wheeler driver with the police decoy proceeded towards Nawinnna and stopped opposite the Arpico Centre for a while and again proceeded towards Maharagama where he stopped his vehicle at two places and made several telephone calls using his mobile phone.

Again he proceeded towards Pannipitiya and thereafter to Kottawa via Hokanadara and arrived at Malabe through a circuitous route to avoid police detection. But the two policemen trailing the three wheeler kept the OIC informed of the route.

The decoy sent an SMS message to the OIC that they were travelling towards Malabe from where they picked up the girl and were proceeding towards Arangala junction.

They stopped near a pharmacy.

Again the three wheeler proceeded towards Kahantota, arrived at Pittugala junction and veered off towards Kaduwela. The three wheeler then crossed a bridge and proceeded towards a hotel at Biyagama.

According to OIC Duminda Balasuriya the three wheeler took nearly three hours to arrive at Biyagama town crisscrossing several police stations making it difficult for the police to follow it.

When the three wheeler finally arrived at a hotel in Biyagama, two waiters allowed the vehicle to be parked opposite a room on the ground floor. One waiter politely requested for the National Identity card of the decoy and the couple was soon whisked them off into a room. “The whole package included everything from providing the young girl plus a free hotel room and the three wheeler fare of Rs. 6000.

The couple did not face the hassle of walking into the reception to be noticed by others,” OIC Walana Inspector Duminda Balasuriya said.

Signal

The police party led by OIC Walana raided the hotel room after receiving a signal from the policemen who followed the three wheeler. The young girl and the three wheeler driver were taken in for questioning.

Although the girl did not have a National Identity Card, the police found her birth certificate from her temporary boarding house at Kaduwela.

The police found that she was 19 years. She was later produced at the Biyagama police station.

It was revealed that her mother had left her father and was living elsewhere. She lived with her father for some time but eloped with her lover and came to Colombo to settle down.

They lived as husband and wife in a room at Kaduwela when she became pregnant. Then she met the three wheeler driver's wife while attending a dancing class at Maharagama. The three wheeler driver's wife enticed her into prostitution knowing her precarious financial situation and invited her home.

The three wheeler driver's wife had even insisted that she should go for an abortion if she was to make money, police said.

The girl and the taxi driver were produced before the Kadawatha Magistrate and remanded.