Couple arrested for Beauty Salon robbery

Couple arrested for Beauty Salon robbery

Those who engage in looting or robbery happen to employ various strategies from time to time. A couple who used to visit high class Beauty Salons saying that they wish to have a facial done and thus stay back would later most abruptly pull out a sharp weapon and after scaring the customers who have been present there would then plunder their jewellery. However, this couple who tried out this

stunt according to this new strategy, unfortunately got trapped by the police recently in Modera area.

An attractive lady of 30 years who had studied at a leading girls' high school in Colombo and a 29 year old youth supposed to be her paramour was the couple who were cornered in this manner. This couple who was alleged to have been addicted to drugs had been using drugs to the value of about Rs.10,000 daily and to meet such expenses they had been from time to time engaged in this plundering, it was exposed. In fact there are police records which stand evidence that the couple had plundered two Beauty Salons in Wellawatta and one Beauty Salon in Modera area by robbing gold items and cash. The police say that in addition they had been engaged in the act of looting houses in Kollupitiya and other areas.

This couple would visit Beauty Salons saying that they wish to have a facial done. When however the facial is in progress in the case of the lady concerned or is in the waiting list, they await a chance when the Salon is full with customers and both of them would then draw out knives from their pockets and aim the knives at the necks of the customers and proceed to scare them and thus rob the money and gold jewellery items, it was said. Further it was understood that they would put the robbed items into a bag and beat a retreat in a split second. It was learned that they had selected Beauty Salons as the best location for these robberies because this is where they could plunder expensive jewellery items worn by high-class ladies who patronise these Beauty Salons.

There had even been instances where this female robber has engaged in this form of robbery even when the male partner was not present for the act. On certain days when it was not possible to plunder Beauty Salons, they would keep an eye on houses where ladies of the affluent class would be staying all alone and this female robber would go to urban areas such as Kollupitiya and mention somebody's name and if she comes across a lady whom they can prey on and in the instance she is told by the lady of the house that there is nobody by that name, this female robber would then say, "I am so very thirsty for water ... can I have some water to drink?"  When the lady of the house would go inside to fetch the water, she would follow her and would show her a knife inside the house and frighten her into disposing of cash and jewellery, it was reported.

This female robber who had been seriously addicted to drugs and on investigations carried out by the police it was found that she has two children from an earlier marriage and that she lives in a house in Modera area. This woman who engages in these robberies goes about her activities dressed in a simple attire of a T-shirt and a Denim and the police were able to reveal that she had followed her education at a leading girl's school in Colombo and had even passed her Advanced Level with colours. One of her sisters is presently residing in a European country. Even people in her area of residence are really surprised to find that this woman who lives in a respectable manner is now cordoned by the police for this type of activity.

She had been divorced from her husband of the previous marriage and had later on 'kept' this new unmarried youth who is supposed to have been a lover of hers during her school days.  He was someone who had been seriously addicted to drugs and as a result this woman too had become a drug addict. At one time he had been in prison and during that period this woman had been involved in these activities of plundering from Beauty Salons and houses all alone, it was learned.

For a period of time though the couple had been engaged in these plundering activities and had been successful in getting through the police net because of their sharp strategies, after the police conducted further investigations on CCTV footage of Wellawatta and Modera Beauty Salons they were finally able to get some clue about this woman who was living in Modera area. As such, she was taken into custody when she was in her home and the place where her illicit lover too was cordoned by the police and he too was arrested. By now the police have been able to find jewellery to the value of over Rs. 7 lakhs which had been mortgaged at several places by the couple. Wellawatta Police are continuing further investigations.