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Bogus law-enforcement callers alleging terrorist links extort money
Retired Agriculture Director Suranimala Rajapaksa of Kandy, recently received a telephone call. The caller identifying himself as Nishantha Wijesinghe from the Batticaloa police told Mr. Rajapaksa that he was wanted for questioning in connection with links to terrorists.
The ‘caller’ went on to tell Mr. Rajapaksa that a former LTTEer , ‘Rajanayagam’, had been arrested while trying to flee to Australia and under questioning, had revealed that he had received Mr. Rajapaksa’s assistance.
“I told the ‘caller’ that, if necessary, I could call over at the nearest police station which is Kandy, and make a statement, as I had nothing to do with the LTTE. The ‘caller’ said there was no provision to make a statement at another police station, and insisted that I call over at Batticaloa,” Mr. Rajapaksa told the Sunday Times.
“I was told to bring clothes, as I would be remanded for three weeks, and was advised to retain a lawyer from Batticaloa,” he said.
Mr. Rajapaksa suspecting that it was a ruse to extort money, immediately contacted one of his relatives in the armed forces, who made inquiries and confirmed that there was no such officer at the Batticaloa police.
Mr. Rajapaksa lodged a complaint with the Kandy police, but the police were unable to inquire into the complaint, as no caller identification had been recorded. Since then, Mr. Rajapaksa had a ‘caller line identification’ installed on his phone.
Last week, a businessman in Chavakachcheri, received a call on his mobile, from a person identifying himself as an army intelligence officer instructing the grocery owner to call over at the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) branch in Vavuniya, to record a statement over allegations that he funded the LTTE.
The businessman was told that he had a second option to settle the matter ‘amicably’, and promised to call back. He lodged a complaint with the Chavakachcheri police and provided them with the caller’s number recorded on his phone. The police had advised the businessman to get the caller to visit the area.
Police arrested the caller as well as two others who accompanied him, when they arrived to meet the businessman. The caller was found to be an army deserter from Kalutara, while his two accomplices were residents of Chunnakam. They were produced before Jaffna Magistrate S. Sivakumar and remanded.
Early this week, another businessman from Jaffna, received a similar call and told he could settle an investigation opened against him at the TID, for his links with the LTTE. These are among a series of instances where persons receive telephone calls from individuals claiming to be members of the TID, Criminal Investigations Department or Army Intelligence units, and demand money to settle ‘investigations’ against them. Complaints have been received from Colombo, Wellawatte, Kandy and Mt Lavinia, but some of them have not lodged complaints with the police.
This week the Police headquarters confirmed that they had received a series of complaints about attempts to extort money claiming that they were from the CID, TID or the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) which were investigating offences against them. Police Spokesman SP Buddhika Siriwardena in a statement, said that, in some instances, the callers had threatened the recipients to deposit money in the callers’ accounts.
He said in some other cases, the victims had been reluctant to lodge complaints, hampering police efforts to arrest those responsible for extortion. Police appeal to the public to inform them if ‘callers’ tried to extort money (Pleasee see graphic for numbers).
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