Nittambuwa Post Office robbed, Rs. 5 Mn loss

Thieves had broken into the main post office in Nittambuwa city day before yesterday (31) night and taken away Rs.400,000 in cash and stamps worth Rs.5 million.

They had broken the locks of the room door where the safe was located and stolen the money and stamps from the safe by cutting open the safe with a grinder. Police said that a precise calculation of the value of the stolen goods had not been done until yesterday evening.

A senior Police officer said that if the amount suspected to have been stolen is correct, then this is the largest amount of money and stamps stolen from post offices.

Police information revealed that there has been an increase in thefts of money and stamps by breaking into post offices and breaking open safes during weekends and holidays and nine post offices have been broken into by thieves during a period of four months. Accordingly, during three months, post offices have been broken into and more than Rs.10 million worth of cash and stamps have been stolen.

The officer said that the Nittambuwa Post Office Post Master had come to the post office yesterday (1) at around 8.55 in the morning and seen that the safe of the post office had been cut with a grinder at the back and reported it to the Nittambuwa Police.

Although official Police dogs were brought and investigations had been conducted, no trace had been found. Officials of the Fingerprint Bureau were called and fingerprint tests were done, but no successful information was obtained from that either.

Before breaking the safe of this post office in Nittambuwa, the Ragama post office had been robbed on July 8. The robbers had broken the ceiling of the post office and entered through the door of the room where the safe was located. They had cut the safe with a grinder and stolen Rs.425,000 which had been in it.

During the long holiday period of the previous week, thieves had broken open the windows of two main post offices located in Kadawatha Ihalakaragahamuna and Wennappuwa and cut open the safes and stolen more than Rs. 1 million in cash. During this period, the main post office in Alawwa was also robbed. During the long weekend holiday that started with Vesak day, the post office had been broken into after removing roof tiles and entering. Police said that two safes were cut open with a grinder and Rs.361,198 and stamps worth Rs.400,800 had been stolen.

The Galgamuwa main post office was also robbed on the last weekend of April and Rs.1.6 million in cash had been robbed.

The theft had been carried out by opening the locks of the safe. Apart from that, every other post office had been robbed by cutting open the safes. The main post office at Warakapola had also been burgled in the third week of April. The safe had been cut open and Rs.170,300 in cash and Rs.876,500 worth of stamps had been stolen.

The Kelaniya main post office had been robbed by thieves between April 1 and 3. The thieves had broken in through the roof of the post office, cut the safe open and stolen Rs.643,885.

On March 4, the Mahabage post office had also been robbed in the same way. Rs.70,000 had been stolen from the safe. Thieves had entered the post office by breaking in through a wall.