![Gossip Lanka News [English]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYm2aFFq-bIW1nWX-RrqnPFoIsVos6_VCVz8BpLt0QJi55GNXHXC2fugeRvL0qUStEuCfs7Sfu6ZiSlhrkldxfGuE_wzy5gitY6rMZ2KSi8VBbGvkgXLks37RwZV-4-HKbWiNLRxB8C_r1e4z3mpxFTMPDJPEADoG8E-bZteWFipeD5KNGbjvCfqEfKw=s300 "Gossip Lanka News [English]")
A mother who was engaged in looting in an organised manner getting together with his 2 sons and 2 daughters-in-law were cordoned by the police recently.They had been upto their racket by making a slit in the handbags and robbing money in a very sharp manner.
A lady who came to Matugama Police one day had made a complaint in the police-book saying that someone had taken away a cash sum of Rs. 2 lakhs 72,000. According to the complaint made on the police-book she had been to a bank in Matugama town and had withdrawn the money and after a short while on checking her handbag she had found it slit open and the cash robbed after which complaint Matugama Police began investigations immediately. However, the police were not successful in taking anybody into custody in this connection, The robbery concerned had been so cunningly executed.
In this manner, during a period of one or two months Matugama Police received complaints of money being robbed from its owners, with the bags being slit open. The monies so robbed had been close upon Rs. 5 lakhs and the police were unable to figure out how all these robberies were carried out by blindfolding the police.
In the process, Mr. M. Chandra Pathmalal, Inspector of Police of Matugama Headquarters who possessed a long-term experience in police service had his attention closely fixed on this activity. Whatever it is,he gave all necessary instructions to his officers by appointing a separate team in this connection alone to somehow or other arrest this gang, directing this investigation from there onwards. Subsequently a team comprising of OIC Matugama Police, Mr. Ravindra Pushpakumara of the Crime Branch who had a wide range of knowledge of crime detection began investigations with the objective of arresting those connected to these robberies.
First of all they inspected the CCTV footage of banks and shops in the town and were able to extract a large amount of information successfully. Investigation activities proceeded on these lines and in this respect they were supported by officers of the Intelligence Unit. Officers of the Intelligence Unit and police officers dressed in civil uniform began operating in suspicious locations according to data obtained from CCTV footage and were extremely cautious about persons moving about frequently at such places.
In the process an eagle-eyed officer of the Intelligence Service was directed towards a suspicious three-wheeler. He surreptiously took down the number of the vehicle and informed the details to his higher officers.
On instructions of Inspector of Police, Chandra Pathmalal, the police who expanded their investigation activities were then able to secure a heap of significant information across the number of the said three-wheeler.
The team of police officers who managed to find out the complete details of the three-wheeler through the Motor Traffic Registration Department then took steps to pursue the registered address. Accordingly, the team of police officers headed by the OIC of the Crime Branch went in search of the registered address.
Consequently they surrounded a two-storeyed house in Goluwamulla, Ganegoda, Elpitiya on the 31st and took a woman into custody. The police then further inspected the house and then they happened to find much important information in relation to the Matugama cash robberies with the aid of the CCTV camera data. The police found several items of clothing worn by suspicious women as seen on CCTV camera, inside this house. When further interrogating the suspect-woman the police were able to uncover incredible beginnings of an organised gang of a strange type.
After the police dismissed all doubts and were convinced that the woman they had arrested was Pitiduwa Pathirage Mallika alias "Dangari" (53) who had operated as the leader of the gang, they began to question her further. Dangari who understood that there is nothing more to hide from the police anymore, then started vomitting out all information regarding the nefarious activities of the business that had been carried on by her, her two sons and the latter's two wives, in the presence of the police.
As such, the police then surrounded two more upstair houses a little beyond Dangari's house and were able to take three others into custody. The individuals so arrested were Dangari's youngest son who was a youth of 21 years, his wife who was a young woman of 20 years and another person. The eldest son who was 25 years of age and who was in hiding in this house too was found by the police and was arrested. This young man who was seriously addicted to narcotics at the time he was arrested has had 400 mg heroin in his possession.
The police took into their custody 3 three-wheelers and one motor cycle which were found at the rear portion of the house belonging to Dangari. At that point the police raised questions about another young female who was noticed in the CCTV footage. She was then taken into police custody in Ratmalana area and she happened to be the wife of the prime suspect Dangari's eldest son. She then came into police custody while in the Ratmalana house belonging to her parents.
According to police sources, they had been engaged in this organised gang robberies for sometime. Its leadership had been taken by the mother who was known as Dangari, her two sons and two daughters-in-law who had provided support to her in this connection. This gang who dressed themselves elegantly and comported themselves as respectable individuals used to give life to the vocation of pickpocketing in a manner that aroused nobody's suspicion in the least. Their main target had been females.
Dangari and the gang comprising hr children would keep their eyes focused on females entering banks for transactions. In this respect Dangari's two daughters-in-law would take prominence and they would leak out the relevant information to their mother-in-law as to where the money is deposited in the handbag of the victim and the exact place where the money is so concealed in the handbag.
The duty of the two sons in this instance is to transport their mother and their wives in the three-wheelers to the required location. This way they engage in a preliminary exercise of understanding about their victim after which they would plan out the relevant modus-operandi. The mother-in-law and the two daughters-in-law who walk behind the victim in the least suspicious manner have selected locations congested with people for their purpose. Dangari gets close to her victim who has money in her hand and her next move is to make a sharp slit with the slightest cut in the handbag where the cash has been stored with the aid of a razor blade hidden inside a handkerchief.
Dangari revealed in the presence of the police that she had the deft ability of extracting the cash from the opening in the handbag created with the use of the two fingers in the hand while her two daughters-in-law had provided her with a fine cover from people around to execute her job. During interrogation she had admitted that she and her accomplices had been carrying on these activities at various locations around the country for sometime. She also revealed that the monies so robbed by her was distributed among her children and at that time she was arrested, the money so distributed among the children amounted to some lakhs.
Dangari and her gang had launched their business of pickpocketing as their mode of income in areas such as Kalutara, Galle, Badureliya and Thembuwana. The speciality of this operation is that it was a racket which had been going on by targetting females only. Dangari and her children had spent a life of luxury from the monies so earned.
It is undebatable that the mother is an exemplary character to the children. Dangari is not only a "Four-in-One" who destroyed the title of Sadhu Sammatha Amma but even misled her own children and transformed them into criminals. In order to expose the assets of the gang who are in custody and also to nab others connected to them, Matugama Police are conducting further investigations.
- Ruwan Jayawardena-