Robbery of three-wheeler driver; Suspects still at large
Two persons who had come from Avissawella in a three-wheeler under the guise of travelling to Eheliyagoda on the Dehiowita-Panawala road, gave the driver a sweet drink laced with a drug which rendered him unconscious and robbed him of Rs.20,000 along with gold jewellery worth over Rs. one million.
No information had been revealed regarding the suspects, even as of yesterday (13). The Police said that a team of officers from the Crimes Investigation Division is carrying out investigations to identify the two criminals and take them into custody.
Eheliyagoda Police said the robbery had taken place on February 11 at about 12.40 p.m. The 55-year-old three-wheeler driver, a resident of Vidyala Mawatha, Avissawella was receiving treatment at the Avissawella hospital until yesterday (13).
Police said that the driver who runs from a three-wheeler park in Avissawella town, had parked his vehicle as usual in the parking area on Saturday (11) when two people had come and boarded it wanting to go to Eheliyagoda. They also said that the two passengers had come to the Eheliyagoda town and spent about half an hour there and then stated that they needed to go to Dehiowita and requested they travel along the Panawala Road.
“These two passengers had bought three bottles of soft drinks from Eheliyagoda together with some rolls and given the driver his share. They had travelled in the three-wheeler while eating and drinking together with the driver. A short while after the driver had consumed the drink, he had felt dizzy and the two passengers had then robbed Rs.20,000 from the driver’s possession together with a gold chain weighing five sovereigns and a 2-sovereign gold ring”.
“Another individual who had seen the driver on the side of the road, shouting incoherently had informed the 1990 Suwa Sariya Ambulance Service and had transferred him to hospital,” the Police said. During investigations it was revealed that the bottle of soft drink had been laced with a drug to make the driver unconscious.