The curtain on the Negombo conference of the delegates of the local authorities was about to come down when one of the journalists covering the event addressed the media secretary of the former purohita of Boralugoda fame in a low tone: “Machang, ask your Lokka to check whether his purse is there safe and sound!”

The Media Secretary has reportedly replied: “It was the ‘elephants’ that sent the pickpockets to Seenigama. Of course, moles were there at the Negombo event too. But they had been deployed by a purohita of our own. They had not picked any pockets on this occasion out of their regard for the event.”

Asked why the purohita was sending his moles to events of this nature, the media secretary had briefly replied: “They are afraid of us.”