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| Sunday, 27 March 2005 |
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News Business Features
Editorial
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Hospital car parks hunting grounds of vehicle thieves Crime Sunday by Jaympathy Jayasinghe It was hard to believe that the three white Toyata Hiace vehicles and a Honda motor cycle parked outside the Special Organised Anti Crime Unit at Chaitiya road, were stolen vehicles. In fact they were. Sub-Inspector Malalage who accompanied me to the spot shows me the stolen vehicles. The vehicles stolen a few months ago from car parks from private hospitals in Colombo were still in an immaculate condition. The racket was unearthed when the police was tipped off by an informant that two underworld characters were hiding in a house at Ja-Ela. Police raided the house and arrested two underworld characters and recovered a T-56 automatic with ammunition. The crack down was ordered by DIG Crimes, Intelligence and Operations, Jayantha Wickremaratne. The arrests were made by police officers attached to the Special Organised Anti Crime Unit at Police Headquarters, Colombo. On the instructions of ASP V. Indran, Chief Inspector H. Samudrajeewa detailed a police party for the arrest of two more underworld characters responsible for thefts of vehicles. On a tip off given by an informant the police party proceeded straight to a residence at Ja-ela and arrested two more suspects along with a cab. Police soon learned that all suspects had belonged to an underworld gang specialising in robbing vehicles. Suspects in grave crime offences Inspector Malalage explains to me that the two suspects taken into custody from a house at Ja-Ela were planning to execute more thefts from car parks of private hospitals. After recording their statements police learnt that the thefts were carried out by a five member underworld gang. Two were already in custody and three more were to be arrested in connection with several grave crime offences. The two member gang told police that they proceeded to Singapore and bought a set of tools that can be used to break open any vehicle door. Inspector Malalage said the robbers had been quite successful in breaking open vehicle doors with the set of tools from Singapore. The two robbers had even admitted that they had stolen around 15 vehicles along with others from various places including the vehicle parks at several private hospitals in Colombo and from the Galle Face Green. However, the police are still investigating to ascertain this claim. Meanwhile two Dolphin vehicles stolen from Colombo city recently were recovered from a car sales centre at Kurunegala. When a team of police officers visited the car sales centre to investigate the theft, the Manager told police that they were not aware of the theft. The persons who brought the vehicles had informed them that the vehicles were affected by the tsunami disaster and had lost documents to prove ownership. An organised racket According to DIG Crimes and Operations, Jayantha Wickremaratne, thefts of vehicles was an organised racket perpetrated by underworld gangs. The modus operandi of these gangs was to lurk around car parks of private hospitals to keep a lookout for new vehicles. They wait in ambush until a person parks his vehicle and proceed, to the hospital. A gangster then follows him to a building and communicates with his counterpart who hangs around a car park. The communication is done by using a cellular phone to ensure that everything is alright to steal the vehicle. The Vavuniya Police recently detected a stolen vehicle from Negombo on its way to Jaffna. The vehicle was seized at the Vavuniya police check point. Corrupt state officials involved Last year Police detected a racket where luxury vehicles robbed or stolen from Colombo were being sent to the Northern province by an organised gang. The robbers even alter chassis, engine numbers and the registration certificates in connivance with some corrupt state officials. The stolen vehicles include luxury models like Pajero-Intercoolers, Toyota, Nissan and other models. Statistics from January to October 2003 show that 501 Motor Cycles, 211 Three-Wheeler Taxis, 25 Cars, 140 Vans, 3 Buses, 40 Lorries, 9 Jeeps, in addition 60-70 vehicles have been stolen during the month of October. Meanwhile the special Organised Anti-Crime Unit at police headquarters have recovered the following stolen vehicles. Van No 56- 3936 which was robbed at Kahathuduwa by threatening to kill it occupants. Two suspects were taken into custody. Three wheeler H.Q. 1259 stolen was recovered at Peliyagoda. Robbed Van No W.P. 7591 was recovered at Maharagama. Robbed Van No 254 -1353 was recovered at Meegahawatte. Robbed Van No WPHP 9241 recovered at Dompe. Robbed Three Wheeler 206-7088 recovered at Maharagama. Robbed
Inter-Cooler 65- 3889 recovered at Maharagama. |
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Editorial | Security | Produced by Lake House |
