Came to a shop under the guise of buying a betel quid and stole a bag worth 8 lakhs.

A person who stole a bag containing eight hundred thousand rupees from a retail shop located at the Meegahakiula new bus stand was caught by the owner and handed over to the police when he returned to the same shop the next day. The theft was committed under the guise of buying a betel quid, and the suspect was identified and arrested on the 7th of last month.

The person who suffered this financial loss is a 74-year-old businessman residing at Keselwatta, Kolonwatta, Meegahakiula. He operates a retail shop in a rented building on the ground floor of the said bus stand, and it was his routine to put the daily earnings from the business into a cloth bag, take it home in the evening, and bring it back to the shop the next morning.

On the morning of the incident, he brought the bag containing approximately eight hundred thousand rupees to the shop and placed it on the table where biscuits were packed, then engaged in his business activities. Around 1:30 PM that day, a man appearing to be about 60 years old with white hair, dressed in black long trousers and a blue shirt, came asking for a betel quid. After being given the betel quid, he also asked for tobacco, so the shop owner told him to take tobacco from the shopping bag on the table.

Around 4:00 PM, as the owner was preparing to close the shop, he noticed that the money bag on the table was missing. Suspicion fell on the person who had come to buy the betel quid, and the next day, on the evening of the 7th, when that person returned to the shop, the businessman detained him inside the shop and informed the police.

The person arrested is a 52-year-old resident of Deegalla, Uwavatta. Further investigations are being conducted by the Kandaketiya Police, led by Kandaketiya Police Station OIC Police Inspector J.M.H.D. Jayathunga, under the instructions of Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Badulla Division, Laksiri Wijesena, Badulla Senior Superintendent of Police Jagath Rohana, and Badulla District (1) Assistant Superintendent of Police Wehitha Deshapriya.