By Binoy Suriyaarachchi
Colombo Chief Magistrate Rashmi Singappuli remanded two police officers attached to the Colombo Fraud Bureau (CFB) yesterday for accepting a bribe of Rs. 2.1 million from a businessman in Dam street.
The two police officers taken into custody have been identified as Inspector Janaka Chaminda and Sergeant Priyantha de Silva of the CFB. They were arrested by the Commercial Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Fort last Tuesday.
The suspects were supposed to have told the businessmen that he was involved in human trafficking and they promised him he could avoid being taken into custody if he could offer them Rs. 5 million as bribe. According to the details provided by the CID the suspects had asked for Rs 1 million in addition to the amount Rs 2.1 million they received from him.
Preliminary investigations carried out by the CID have revealed the involvement of the suspects in various other unlawful activities and the detectives also added that another sergeant attached to the CFB along with a resident of Kandy were also found to be involved in bribing, with the suspects.
As the CID officials have pointed out the suspects were serving in the police and they should be allowed to be confined separately from other remand prisoners. Magistrate Singappuli ordered the prison officials to confine the suspects separately from other inmates in the Colombo remand prison. The case has been postponed till 2 July.
