A 'most wanted' fraudster nabbed by CID
By Premalal Wijeratne
A special team of officers of the CID in Colombo, took into custody a person, who had fraudulently collected a sum of Rs 150 million from people across the country. Police said he had been posing as the Private Secretary of a former Deputy Defence Minister, Anuruddha Ratwatte, and had also used the names of highly placed political leaders in his fraudulent operations.
The suspect was also in possession of a counterfeit ATM card that showed Rs 400 million as the balance in the bank account. CID Director of Investigations, Hemantha Dikowita, who is conducting investigation said: "We have been searching for this fraudster and another suspect for one-and-half years. The suspect who had made the counterfeit ATM card at a place in Piliyandala, was nabbed in Homagama.
OIC of the Madulsima Police, G.W.S.C. Jayathileka had caught the main suspect.
The fraudster, after first posing off as the private secretary to the late Deputy Defence Minister, had been in the business of importing rice and other commodities for the Sri Lanka Army. He had converted the dollars he had earned through the business into the local currency. By showing the counterfeit ATM card to various businessmen, he had made them deposit Rs 5 million into his bank account in order to get the massive sums of money in the counterfeit ATM card account released. Sources said that after collecting the funds so deposited, the suspect would vanish, never to be seen by the persons he had duped.
In order to get the funds released through bogus means, he had been giving telephone calls to the Central Bank and other commercial banks with the intention of duping them, police investigations reveal.
It has come to light that the suspect had been one of the 'most wanted' by the CID as well as many police stations across the island in connection with frauds he had committed.
By showing a bogus bank guarantee, the suspect is said to have rented a luxury house with a swimming pool from a Tamil businessman. In addition, he had taken goods to the value of around Rs 60 million from traders in Pettah and other areas of Colombo by showing forged bank certificates.
The CID is conducting investigations with a view to taking into custody a number of bank employees and government officers who are said to have aided and abetted him to engage in these monumental scams. The two suspects are being interrogated after obtaining a detention order, police sources further said.
The Director of Investigations, L.D. Hemantha Dikowita, Chief inspector Ranaweera, Police Inspectors Rajeew Hettiarachchi and Jayantha Baktakeerthi, SI Thushara Perera and PC Sisira are conducting further investigations under the instructions of Senior DIG of the Western Province, Anura Senanayake.
Category: Local, Sri lanka news
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