The young man from Ampara who hunted for nude photos of young women from a Telegram group was caught.

Although technology has made our lives easier, the terrifying reality that it can plunge young lives into a dark abyss in an instant is once again being exposed to society.

The roots of this tragedy began to unravel with the arrest of a twenty-four-year-old man by the Criminal Investigation Department, who is alleged to have hidden within the internet and, using the Telegram social media network, preyed on tuition class students and young women, forcibly obtaining explicit photos from them. The police confirm that the suspect, a resident of Ampara, studied Advanced Level Mathematics and possesses a good understanding of technology.

His modus operandi was extremely subtle and cruel. He would find young women's phone numbers through various Telegram groups and initially engage in very friendly conversations with them. Afterwards, he would artificially convert their normal photos into nude images and send them back to the victims, issuing severe threats. Many helpless girls succumbed to the psychological torment he inflicted, threatening to release these fake nude photos online if they did not provide real explicit photos in the poses he demanded. However, a complaint made by a courageous twenty-two-year-old woman from the Bibile area, who bravely faced this threat, became the crucial turning point in dismantling this network.

He was apprehended by law enforcement on the 30th of last month, following a lengthy operation launched by the Eastern Provincial Unit of the Computer Crime Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department. Officers who examined his mobile phone found that nude photos of twelve helpless young women were stored in just one Telegram account. Furthermore, the fact that over seven hundred other young women's numbers were blacklisted on his phone, where he maintained three accounts, provides a horrifying hint at the true extent of his victims. It has now been revealed that he had carried out similar threats even a week before his arrest.

This perpetrator roamed social media as an invisible phantom. His accounts had no real name or photo, and the phone number he used could not be called by anyone from outside. Senior police officers are deeply concerned about how many more young women silently endure this psychological torment due to fear and shame of potential social stigma. Had it not been for the contribution of the team, including Chief Inspector Karunaratne and Sub-Inspector Divanjana, to this investigation launched under the instructions of Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekera, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, many more lives could have been ruined. The suspect has currently been remanded for fourteen days by the Bibile Magistrate's Court.

Although the law is enforced against such crimes committed hidden in the dark corners of the internet, the scars left on those young minds, harassed even in the solitude of their own bedrooms via the internet, will never be erased.