Police have raided an alleged illegal television and radio transmission centre operating secretly inside a high-security zone near Ratmalana International Airport, arresting two suspects including a Maldivian national.
The raid was carried out by the Mount Lavinia Divisional Crime Investigation Bureau with the assistance of telecommunications authorities. Police said the centre had been operating in the Attidiya area under the cover of a travel company, with equipment worth nearly Rs. 50 million taken into custody — including satellite receivers, satellite dishes, computers, a Starlink unit and other transmission equipment.
Preliminary investigations indicate the operation had allegedly used data from a private telecommunications provider to download television channels via satellite and illegally redistribute television and radio services to customers in Sri Lanka and overseas. Further investigations are under way.
The bust opens a new vector in Sri Lanka’s enforcement against unlicensed broadcasting and signal piracy, with the alleged use of a Starlink terminal flagging the cross-border data-bridging risk that satellite internet services pose for content licensing regimes. It follows the wider crackdown on cyber-scam compounds linked to foreign nationals and the Walana Central Anti-Corruption Unit’s multi-drug operations across the Western suburbs in recent weeks.
Source: Newswire.
