Six arrested over Canadian visa scam

Six suspects who were allegedly defrauding money from persons by claiming they could provide educational visas for them in Canada have been arrested. 

Acting on a warrant issued by the Fort Magistrate's Court, the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau searched a building in Kadawatha yesterday that was allegedly being used to draft forged documents for those trying to obtain education visas to Canada. 

Among the items seized by police from the location were three computers, three laptops, four printers, one scanner, fake deposit certificates, bank account statements, documents relating to assets that had been prepared to be sent to embassies, various official seals and over Rs. 1.1 million in cash. 

One male and five females were arrested at the location. The male suspect is a 68-year-old resident of Seeduwa while the female suspects aged 47, 45, 31, 28 and 23 are residents of Wattala, Ragama and Kelaniya.

Investigations have revealed that the suspects had used fake letterheads to draft asset declarations, Fixed Deposit certificates and account statements for those hoping to obtain foreign visas. 

The suspects are due to be produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate's Court today (27).