Liquor robbers on the loose
Kapila SOMARATNE- Panadura group corr.
An armed gang of six persons are carrying out robberies in the
Kalutara district, residents of the area complain.
The gang had recently broken into a tavern on midnight and had robbed
nearly half of the stock of arrack valued at Rs one million. They had
loaded them into a van and fled away.
Two weeks earlier, the Wadduwa and Panadura arrack taverns were also
robbed in the same way and liquor worth Rs. 1.5 million was stolen.
Police are conducting investigations.
Meanwhile, Panadura Magistrate RSA Dissanayaka imposed a fine of Rs.
10,000 each on two drivers who pleaded guilty of driving under the
influence of alcohol on Galle road.
The magistrate also sentenced the accused to three months rigorous
imprisonment suspended for five years. The drivers Eppawala Sunil and
Sugith Sanjeewa were produced before court by the Panadura police.
Meanwhile Panadura Additional District Judge and Magistrate R.S.A.
Dissanayaka remanded an illicit liquor businessman, Arukgoda Chandera.
He was evading court when the Wadduwa police filed a plaint against
him for having possessed a stock of goda and raw materials used to
manufacture illicit brew.
The police team seized 20 barrels of hooch.
The police told the court that the suspect is the manufacturer and
distributer of illicit liquor to several areas on the Panadura and
Bandaragama electorates. |