Four persons have been arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of Police during raids at Sea Street in Pettah and Maligawatta yesterday with over Rs 18.6 million and equivalent to over Rs. 400,000 in foreign currencies. They were arrested on the charges of money laundering.

The STF said following an alert from the Gonahena STF camp, the raids were conducted on four jewelry shops at Sea Street and Nooraniya Street in Maligawatta.

Four suspects, aged between 25 and 51, who were from Wellawatta and Colombo 10 and 15 were taken into custody for money laundering charges and aiding and abetting to the offence.

They were handed over to the Illegal Assets and Property Investigation Unit for further investigations.

During the raid, the STF seized Rs.18.69 million and foreign currencies such as INR, Kuwait Dinar, Qatar Riyal, Singapore Dollar and US$ amounting to Rs. 432,502.(Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya)