Three people, including a woman, have been arrested for impersonating police officers to intimidate and rob young couples and other visitors at the Ellakanda waterfall in Horana, Hiru News reported.
The suspects, aged 25, 27 and 28, are all residents of Dikhenapura in Horana. The Crime Investigation Branch of the Horana Headquarters Police detained them while they were hiding in a house at Govinna, Bulathsinhala.
Two incidents, three days apart
On the 10th of this month, two young men from Dharga Town in Aluthgama visiting the waterfall were approached by the group, who said they were police officers and seized their mobile phones and wallets. One of the men was assaulted and pushed. The gang fled with more than Rs. 7,500 in cash.
On the 13th, the group tried the same approach on a couple, demanding to inspect their national identity cards and phones. When the young man attempted to dial the 119 emergency hotline and resist, the robbers assaulted the young woman and fled with a phone worth about Rs. 80,000. Both members of the couple and the main suspect were injured in the struggle.
The method is the detail that connects the two: presenting as an authority with a right to inspect identity documents, at a spot where couples might reasonably expect to be questioned about their presence and be reluctant to complain afterwards.
How they were traced
Complaints were lodged by the two men from Aluthgama and by a couple from Kegalle and Dombagoda — three separate reports. Police reviewed local CCTV footage to establish the suspects’ physical features and worked from there to the Bulathsinhala house.
Two stolen phones worth roughly Rs. 175,000 were recovered, both already disposed of: one sold to a resident of Ellakanda for Rs. 10,000, far below its value, and the other handed to a phone repair shop in Horana to have its password lock removed.
Unreconciled
Hiru’s own headline and the address of its report do not match. The page is filed under a slug describing suspects who robbed “boyfriends after calling the police”; the headline and the body describe impersonation of police officers. The body account is the detailed one and is used here.
Not reported
Whether the three have been produced in court and on what charges; whether a fourth complaint from the Kegalle and Dombagoda couple corresponds to the 13th incident or a third one; whether any police uniform, identification or vehicle was used in the impersonation; how many other victims are believed to have been targeted at the site; and whether the Ellakanda waterfall has any police presence or warning signage for visitors.
