The Biyagama Police Sunday (30) recovered a stock of cigarettes, worth about Rs.1 million, from Rs.1.2 million worth of cigarettes stolen from a three-wheeler that distributes cigarettes to shops, which had been sold to six shops in Doramadalawa, in the Anuradhapura area, and cash Rs.40,000 realised from the sale of those cigarettes. A woman and three men from Grandpass, along with a man from Doramadalawa, were also arrested.
5,900 mg of heroin were found in the possession of the three men from Grandpass. On the day of the robbery these three men were distribute cigarettes with the help of three-wheeler. The three-wheeler was also taken into police custody.
On Friday (28) afternoon, the three-wheeler of an agency that distributes cigarettes in Kadawatha, had brought cigarettes to be distributed in Biyagama. The driver had stopped his three-wheeler near a shop and was delivering the cigarettes, when the three men from Grandpass, who had been proceeding to Biyagama in a three-wheeler to sell drugs, noticed the delivery, waylaid the distributor and fled with part of the stock of cigarettes.
The stolen cigarettes were then given to the woman, who in turn, had handed them over to the man in Doramadala, for its disposal. Later, consequent to a complaint made to the police, Chief Inspector S.D. Garusinghe, OIC CID and his team of intelligence officers from the Police Special Bureau, with the aid of CCTV cameras in the vicinity, arrested the culprits The arrested woman and four men are between the ages of 38 and 50, and they are scheduled to be produced before the Mahara Magistrates Court.
Mahanama Vithanage Malwana Group Corr. and Sudath Pubudu Keerthi Delgoda Group Corr.