Robbery at signal lights

Motorists, beware of gangs operating 15 to 20 yards away from the signal lights. They suddenly appear on the driver's side and start knocking at the shutter as if to tell you something.

Once you lower the shutter, the gangster comes out with the story of your vehicle running over his foot and requests you to take your vehicle to the side of the road and stop. Then he tells there’s no need to go to the police but we will settle, please drop me at my residence which is close by and gets into the vehicle. On the way he tells you to stop at a lonely spot and plunders all the money you have.

A friend of mine had this experience recently at the Dickman's Road signal lights. I myself have faced such situations at Delkanda, Gansabha Junction and Nugegoda signal lights. Since I knew why they were knocking, I stared at them and drove away.

These gangsters target motorists, especially the weak-looking or elderly people, who drive without any passengers. Police should lay a net to catch these gangsters by deploying policemen in civvies near signal lights especially in the morning rush hours when vehicles move at a slow speed. The man I came across twice was a lean tall person, once at Gansabha and again at Nugegoda.

My advice to motorists is if they encounter such a person, they should insist that they go to the police to settle the dispute. Once you say that you want to go to the Police, they vanish.

By Siva, Nugegoda