21 September 2023 10:23 pm Views - 1551
An Indian national was arrested today with 39 laptop computers worth Rs. 2.9 million while he was attempting to smuggle them to India, police said.
They said the suspect was arrested at a temporary residence at Moor Street in Colombo 12. The suspect was identified as Kalandar Edul Ali, a resident of Hanuamantha Puram in Chennai.
Police investigations revealed that the suspect had imported the 39 laptops while paying Customs duty.
The suspect had arrived in the country from Chennai on September 3 and had stayed at the temporary residence.
He sends one or two laptops to one of his Indian shop owners through businessmen who travel daily between India and Sri Lanka while receiving Rs. 2,000 for completing his duty.
Accordingly, he had sent 50 laptops to India in this way.
When police questioned him, he showed a forged bill as proof to say that he had bought these laptops from a shop in Sri Lanka.
Later, the suspect was handed over to the Customs Prevention Unit for further questioning.
The raid was conducted by a police team headed by Police OIC, CI Peduruarachchi of the Dam Street, Colombo Police Division. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)
Pix by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe