Officers attached to the Kuliyapitiya Division Crimes Investigation Unit yesterday seized eight vehicles including two Land Cruisers valued at nearly Rs.150 million and arrested a seven member gang that was engaged in stealing vehicles parked in houses.
Two main suspects and seven people suspected of aiding and abetting the car thefts were arrested from the Kuliyapitiya Magulagama and Narammala areas.
While continuing to investigate complaints related to vehicle thefts in many areas such as Giriulla, Pannala, Nittambuwa, Mirigama, Bingiriya etc., officers engaged in an emergency operation detected a car that was being driven without a valid licence in the Narammala area. Valuable information had been revealed during questioning of the suspect. Subsequently, an extensive investigation was launched by the Kuliyapitiya Divisional Crimes Investigation Unit on the instructions of the North Western Province DIG and accordingly, Police were able to detect seven stolen vehicles along with several other vehicles from vehicle yards in the Kottawa and Thalangama areas.
Accordingly, two Land Cruiser type vehicles, two complete Wagon R type vehicles and one dismantled into pieces, a Toyota Vitz type car, a tractor with a trailer and a Pulsar type motorcycle etc., worth nearly Rs.150 million were found.
The relevant investigating officers had also found almost five pounds of gold stolen from several houses from which the vehicles were stolen from. The suspects and the vehicles were scheduled to be produced before the Kuliyapitiya Court.