Suspects arrested for stealing Lester’s award remanded

The six suspects arrested in connection with the theft of the Golden Peacock Award belonging to late Dr. Lester James Peiris have been remanded until May 21.

The arrested suspects were produced before the Colombo Additional Magistrate today (7). 

The Golden Peacock Lifetime Achievement Award received by veteran filmmaker Dr. Lester James Peiris at the New Delhi Film Festival in 2000 was reported missing from his home on May 2, 2018 the day of his funeral.

It was later found inside a private bus plying the Kaduwela-Kollupitiya route (177) and handed over to police on May 5.

CCTV footage obtained from neighboring houses on May 4 had shown three suspicious individuals arriving at the funeral house in a three-wheeler and then leaving several minutes later. 

Investigations into the suspicious three-wheeler’s number plate had uncovered that the vehicle belongs to a woman living in Kiriwaththuduwa, Pitipana.  

She had revealed that the three-wheeler is now being used by her father, a resident of Gemunupura in Kothalawala, Kaduwela.  The 61-year-old man was arrested by police and upon interrogation he revealed the names of three more suspects. 

They were also arrested at Kaduwela after arriving from Gampola in a three-wheeler. The three arrested men (aged 64, 60 and 46) are residents of Gampola and Nawalapitiya and have been engaged in planning and carrying out theft of valuable items at crowded gatherings, especially those attended by the rich. 

Another suspect, a 47-year-old resident of Hiniduma, was arrested yesterday (6) near the Sugathadasa Stadium, the police spokesman said. 

The suspects, during questioning, admitted to the crimes and revealed that they had sold the stolen iPhone to a phone shop in Nawalapitiya for Rs 4,000.

Eight more stolen mobile phones which were sold to the shop were also recovered by police, who arrested the shop owner for the possession of stolen goods. 

All six arrested suspects were produced at court today (7).