Sunday Times E-Paper

For this burglar in Colombo 7, it was not his day - or his night

A seriel cat burglar met his waterloo last Tuesday when a botched attempt at stealing jewellery from a well-known establishment in the Cinnamon Gardens area ended when he jumped into the compound of businessman and MP Dhammika Perera opposite the National Museum at 4.00 a.m.

According to the Cinnamon Gardens Police, the bearded housebreaker identified now as 'Bomba Rasak' was nabbed after a near three hour search for him starting with a Police night patrol noticing a push bicycle outside the upmarket jewellery store situated right opposite a high security police headquarter. The suspicious patrolmen began a search in the building premises which disturbed the prowler who had then made his getaway by jumping over boundary walls and tiled roofs before entering a nearby residence. But it was not his day--or his night.

The nearby residence was that of businessman and MP Dhammika Perera where private security guards and policemen assigned to the MP had been alerted by the night patrol that a burglar was on the loose. The burglar was armed with a stolen mobile phone in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.

According to Police, the knife-wielding thief managed to escape the posse of security guards and the reinforcements who had been summoned by the Cinnamon Gardens Police by the station's IOC (Crimes) SI Ruwan Somaratne to cordon off the area. The seasoned burglar had managed to get into an adjoining building and around 6.00 a.m, seeing the number of policemen on the street, pretended to be a pedestrian and walked towards the museum area. When the Policemen hailed him to stop, he began to run. The cops in hot pursuit had stopped a passing bus and got the driver to go in the direction of 'Bomba Rasak' trying to escape the long arm of the law. He was eventually apprehended.

'Bomba Rasak', a resident of Maligawatta was remanded for 14 days this week pending further investigations. Police believe he was with another accomplice who escaped. Under interrogation, the man is suspected of a string of robberies in the Cinnamon Gardens and Bambalapitiya areas.

He has told the Police he knows that people in Cinnamon Gardens go to sleep late at night, so his work starts around 3.00 a.m.

NEWS

en-lk

2022-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://sundaytimes.pressreader.com/article/281672553969690

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