Blackmail and extortion rackets
 

Sunday Crime by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

It is evident that blackmail and extortion rackets have thrived in Colombo and it's suburbs more than in provincial towns owing to the expansion of business activities. The other reason being that extorting huge sums of money from Tamil businessmen in the metropolis have become a simple operation owing to the North East conflict. Many underworld criminals posing off as members of the Tamil Tigers have extorted large sums of money from the business community.

Death threats

Police say that the extortionists know that the mindset of the Colombo business community is gripped in fear. They succumbed easily when death threats were levelled against them and their families.

The business community had become a prey to these extortionists due to fear. A senior police officer told the "Sunday Observer" they were quite helpless in tracing the suspects when people do not complain about extortion threats. "Several businessmen in Colombo have been robbed of millions of rupees in the past," he said.

However things were getting a bit out of control last month when several extortion cases were reported from the Grandpass and Pettah areas.

The victims were wealthy businessmen. This caught the attention of Senior Supdt. of Police, Colombo North, Jayantha Jayasinghe who instructed policemen at Colombo North police stations coming under his preview to keep an eye on a gang of extortionists operating in the area.

The racket was barred last Friday when Grandpass police arrested a man at St. Joseph's street, Colombo wanted in connection with several extortion rackets in Colombo. This led to the arrest of a man near the Ketharama cricket stadium with a hand grenade in his possession. After interrogating the suspects police found that they were army deserters. Eventually the arrest led to more arrests at Maligawatte. A woman and a school boy linked to the extortion racket was also arrested.

Ten cases

The four member gang revealed to police that they had threatened to abduct several wealthy businessmen in Pettah and other areas and had collected huge sums of money. Grandpass police said that they have launched an investigation into ten cases of extortion rackets where the gang members had extorted Rs 30,000 from each businessman.

The modus operandi of the gang was to extort money from businessmen through Cellular mobile phones. The gang was so shrewd that they used different SIM cards on their cellular mobile phones to avoid being traced.

The woman suspect had befriended wealthy businessmen and had gathered personnel information on them, police said. Meanwhile the four suspects were produced before courts and were remanded pending further investigations. An identification parade had been fixed next week. Officer in Charge of the Grandpas (OIC) Chief Inspector Jayaratne, OIC Crimes Inspector Mahindasena, Police Sergeant (PS) 16200 Jayasekera, PS 20012 Nihal, Police Constable 26929 Jayantha Lal and PC 8094 Jayantha are investigating the extortion racket.

A similar incident happened in Colombo a few months ago where underworld men who posed off as members of the LTTE unsuccessfully tried to extort millions of rupees from a businessman jeweller at Sea Street Colombo. The men were arrested by the Colombo Crime Division under the directions of SSP Sarath Lugoda.

According to Police underworld men thrive on extortion rackets owing to the fear of most businessmen. Businessmen usually avoid confrontation with the underworld men to ward off trouble. It had been revealed that some businessmen seek the services of underworld men to get their dirty work done by crooked means.

A few months ago an attempt was made to extort Rs 10 million from a businessman in Pettah. Detectives from the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) who waited outside his shop arrested four men to collect Rs 10 million.

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