By Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya   

An individual identified as Anan Merithazan from  Trincomalee who attempted to flee to Dubai was arrested at the Bandaranaike  International Airport (BIA) by the Criminal Investigation Department  sleuths over a fraudulent international money transaction to the tune of  Rs.26 million, the police said.   

Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said it was disclosed  that the suspect was maintaining an account under his name to receive  money from an unknown individual in the USA.   

As per the investigation, the unknown sender in the USA has illegal access to accounts of many US citizens, and he had transferred the looted money to the said local account holder. “Then the local  account holder withdraws the money, taking his commission and sends  the remainder back to the ‘ghost sender’ in the US,” DIG Rohana said.   
He said a private bank had alerted the CID about this and  Rs.1,440 million had been sent from the USA to that particular private bank. Likewise, a number of account holders have withdrawn these monies fraudulently in many ways.   

The spokesman said the suspect who was arrested by the CID was to be produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate yesterday.