Tourist’s wallet plundered by monkey

By Dayaratne Embogama   
A Chinese tourist on a visit to Anuradhapura had a harrowing experience when a monkey took away his wallet containing cash Rs. 50,000 and several documents including his passport near Abhayagiri Cheithiya.   
The 48-year-old Chinese tourist Yuan Shuai was on a visit to Anuradhapura with two others when he faced the incident.   
He had left the bag at the entrance to the Abhayagiri temple and returned in a short while after taking photos of the Cheithiya and its environs to find the bag missing.   
He made a complaint in this regard to Anuradhapura Tourist Police that initiated investigations. Pilgrims told police that they saw a monkey taking away the bag and biting it on a tree.   
However, an employee living in Chethavanarama official quarters had found the bag lying under the tree last morning and handed it over to OIC Tourist Police Suresh Atapattu.   
The bag had in it cash Rs 50,000, the passport, the air ticket, the credit card and several other documents belonging to the tourist. OIC said the bag was handed over to the owner.