Heritage activists in Nuwara Eliya have accused police of failing to act on the disappearance of an ancient copper lightning conductor from the historic Nuwara Eliya Post Office, while the officer in charge of the local Crimes Division has rejected the allegation, The Island reported on Sunday.
Speaking at a press briefing last Wednesday, Nuwara Eliya Protection Organization representatives Gayan Chaturanga Wijayabandara and Nalaka Dinesh Ratnayake said the Postmistress of Nuwara Eliya filed a complaint on April 10 after discovering the copper strip connected to the lightning conductor at the colonial-era building had been severed and the device was missing. The Department of Archaeology subsequently issued an official directive to police on April 29 calling for a full investigation.
The activists alleged no meaningful court or investigative progress had been made since. The site was gazetted as a protected archaeological monument on February 23, 2007, and the organisation warned that the unauthorised removal of artefacts was a serious offence under the Antiquities Ordinance.
The group raised separate concerns over the timing of alleged development activities at the site, contrasting it with earlier attempts to block commercial interventions which had been met with public resistance. They estimated the black-market value of the missing artefact at between Rs. 5 billion and Rs. 10 billion, and questioned how such a theft could occur without prompt arrests.
Nuwara Eliya Police Crimes Division OIC Inspector Indunil Premalal rejected the allegations of inaction, telling the newspaper the investigation was proceeding “in a systematic and transparent manner.”
The dispute opens a new heritage-protection accountability thread at a time when the Department of Archaeology is already facing scrutiny over a separate report by nine former officials documenting 42 paintings missing from the National Art Gallery dating back to the 1990s, and parliamentary concern that records of state cultural assets have not been formally digitised.
Source: The Island — Missing lightning conductor at Nuwara Eliya Post Office sparks probe row.
