Police have arrested three men accused of forging and selling the documents required to register a vehicle, in a raid mounted near the Department of Motor Traffic.
The three suspects are aged 39, 52 and 56, and all are residents of the Narahenpita area, NewsFirst reported. The raid followed a tip-off that vehicle registration paperwork was being forged and sold in the vicinity of the department.
What officers seized
The items recovered from the suspects point to an operation built around reproducing the official marks that give a registration file its authority rather than around the forms themselves.
Officers seized two revenue licence application forms bearing Department of Motor Traffic letterheads and a fake rubber stamp carrying the department’s name. They also recovered a fake rubber stamp bearing the name of a Justice of the Peace and another carrying the details of a lawyer — both offices whose attestation is routinely required on vehicle ownership and transfer documents.
Also taken were a photocopy of an identity card that police say was used to prepare forged certificates, a copy of a lorry’s motor vehicle registration certificate that had been prepared for forgery, and a file cover of the type used for departmental correspondence.
Registration as the point of leverage
The case is the latest to centre on the registration stage of the vehicle chain. In July the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption arrested a former Management Services Officer of the department over the alleged illegal registration and transfer of a car brought into the country without Customs clearance.
Registration is the administrative step that converts a vehicle’s paperwork into a record the state recognises, which is what makes both forged attestations and improperly issued genuine ones valuable.
NewsFirst did not say whether the three suspects had been produced before a court, how long the alleged operation had been running, or how many vehicles may have been registered on forged documents. As of Saturday midday, NewsFirst was the only verified newsroom carrying the arrests.
