A person who infiltrated young women's phones and stole nude videos was brought to court.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama yesterday (25) ordered the remand of a young man until the 6th of next month. For the past three years, he had been illegally accessing young women's mobile phones, obtaining their nude videos, intimidating them, and threatening them to demand more such videos.

The young man remanded was Tharindu Diranga, a resident of Matugama area, who works in the computer field.

Sub-Inspector Isuru Gunathilaka, presenting the suspect arrested by the Computer Crime Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department to the court, explained the facts. He stated to the court that this individual had subtly hacked the phones of the young women concerned using fake IMEI numbers and fraudulent internet connections.

He severely threatened the complainants that if they did not comply with his demands and provide more such videos, he would release the illegally downloaded nude video clips, which he had sent to the respective young women's WhatsApp accounts, onto the internet.

Investigations into this crime began based on complaints made by two young women from Kalutara and Panadura areas in 2023. During the investigations, it was revealed that the suspect had operated his Facebook and WhatsApp accounts using phones with unidentified IMEI numbers as well as VPN technology.

However, investigators managed to arrest this suspect after obtaining the relevant technical information from Facebook company based on a court order.

Considering the police's request to remand the suspect as further investigations into the incident are ongoing, the Magistrate remanded him until the specified date. In addition, the Magistrate issued a special order to the Prison Superintendent to call for a full medical report on the suspect's mental condition.