News
Brass for gold: Antique thieves switch statues
Antique thieves have got away with an 800-year-old gold-plated Buddha statue after replacing it with a look-alike fake one made of brass, Mathurata police who are investigating the theft at the Wellagiriya Purana Rajamaha Viharaya said.
Ven. Mathurata Gnaneswara Thera, the chief incumbent of the Viharaya, had made a complaint to the police, stating that the 75-kilo archaeologically valuable statue which he had kept in a cupboard in his room had been taken away and the fake statue kept in its place.
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He had said he suspected the theft had taken place on September 2, Sunday when he had gone for an alms giving and the other monk in the temple had gone to a funeral house, keeping only a samanera at the temple.
The chief monk told the police that his suspicion was on a group of men who loitered in the vicinity of the temple under the pretext of attending to a faulty telephone. They had come in a vehicle bearing the Sri Lanka Telecom logo.
The Mathurata police said a top level team including Assistant Superintendent A. Walapone and Inspector Shantha Bandara was carrying out the investigations under the direction of Senior Superintendent H.M.D. Mahagedara.
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