Indians arrested in Galle for cyber crimes produced before court

Security forces have taken steps to arrest a large number of foreigners involved in a cybercrime network, centered in the Southern Province, who arrived in the country on tourist visas and illegally earned money through the internet, and to bring them before the law.

After 84 Indian nationals arrested by the Galle Divisional Criminal Investigation Division and another 27 Indian nationals arrested by the Galle Police were produced before Galle Chief Magistrate Sameera Dodangoda, each of them was granted personal bail of five hundred thousand rupees. Additionally, the Magistrate ordered a travel ban on the suspects and instructed them to surrender their passports to the court. The police reported to the court that these individuals had committed financial fraud through the internet, and 49 computers and 45 mobile phones were taken into police custody from their possession.

However, lawyers representing the suspects stated before the court that their clients had not committed any wrongdoing. Senior Counsel Rajindra Narangoda, along with lawyers Nuwan Balage, A.D.C. Darshana, and Chalaka de Silva, appeared on behalf of the 27 suspects. The Chief Magistrate adjourned the hearing until the 21st for further proceedings and instructed that a Hindi language interpreter be summoned to the court on that day. These raids were carried out by a team of officers, including Chief Inspector Chinthaka Panawala, OIC of the Galle Divisional Criminal Investigation Division, Chief Inspector Maduranga, Sub-Inspector Rohana, and several sergeants and constables, under the instructions of Galle Senior Superintendent of Police S.K.S. Rupasinghe.

Meanwhile, concurrently, security forces succeeded in raiding another cybercrime center secretly operated in a lodge in the Dodanduwa area and arresting 55 foreigners on the 11th. The Deputy Inspector General's Office for the Galle District confirmed that among those arrested in this raid, conducted with the assistance of the Special Task Force based on intelligence received by Army Intelligence, were 35 Indian nationals and 20 Nepali nationals. During the raid, 22 computers and 152 mobile phones were also taken into the custody of the security forces.

Investigations have revealed that this group of foreigners had rented the lodge in the Dodanduwa area for five hundred thousand rupees per month to carry out the illicit operation. They had arrived at this location a few days before their arrest, and information has been received that the mastermind behind this cybercrime network is hiding in another location. The group of 55 arrested suspects was to be handed over to the Cybercrime Division for further investigations.