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.