100kg gold scam: Ex-cricketer’s wife and VIPs caught in the act

Colombo: Colombo North Special Investigations Unit under the direction of the Colombo North DIG Vass Gunawardena, arrested 11 suspects on Saturday, including a retired Superintendent of Police, an ex-cricketer’s wife, two ex-Navy and Air Force officers, who had attempted to cheat people to the tune of millions of rupees on the promise of selling 100 kg gold worth Rs500 million [Dh1.4m] belonging to the government treasury, ‘Dinamina’ newspaper reported on Monday.

This special operation was conducted on information received from the Army intelligence unit and the police deployed several decoys as businessmen to purchase the gold at a leading star hotel in Colombo on Friday, where they were about to strike a deal with some buyers around 10 am.

Both parties had come to an agreement to buy 100kg gold for Rs5m each and the police decoys had approached the bogus gold sellers and visited them with the promised money – Dh1m – and as they waited there, a person appeared and wanted to see the money.

The imposters had then accompanied them to the residence of the retired SP in Nugegoda after they were convinced that the potential buyers had arrived with the promised money.

They were taken to a house of a Navy deserter at Homagama on the instruction of the retired SP who had told them the gold had been taken there.

Later, they were accompanied back to Colombo where they met a woman who told them that the gold had been taken somewhere else and requested the buyers to proceed there.

At that point the racketeers were taken into custody and produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate who ordered them to be remanded till May 6.

The woman, who was taken into custody along with her driver of her car, was later identified as the wife of a former leading national cricketer.

DIG Gunawardena said that investigations were in progress. 

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