Manager, assistant arrested over theft of chicken in Badalgama farm

Police who conducted investigations into a theft of 1,200 broiler chicken valued at more than Rs.1.6 million from a farm in Badalgama took the manager and an assistant of the farm into custody yesterday (21). Police said that the manager is a retired army warrant officer from Ipalogama, Anuradhapura and his assistant is a resident of Jambugaspitiya, Kandy who has retired from the navy.

There are about 40,000 chickens on this farm and this manager and his assistant had been taking away chickens from the farm and engaged in a fraud. Since there are a large number of chickens on this farm, management had not had any suspicions. As a result, these two suspects had had the opportunity to engage in this theft for several years.

Meanwhile, according to information received from a buyer who buys chickens from the farm on a monthly basis, the management had commenced an internal audit. During the audit it had been

revealed that the two suspects had stolen 1,200 chickens between February 7 and 13 and sold them.

Accordingly, based on a complaint made yesterday (20) by the recovery officer of the farm, an investigation had been conducted and steps were taken to arrest the two suspects.