The Peliyagoda Police has succeeded in uncovering a large-scale scam of stealing canned fish and selling it from a canned fish sales company selling under a well-known brand name in Sri Lanka.
06 people, including a Chinese national who is said to have led this scam, were arrested yesterday along with a stock of canned fish worth more than 80 lakh rupees.
The Peliyagoda Police Station received a complaint from the relevant company about this, that there is a scam of distributing canned fish under their brand name. According to the complaint, it is revealed that there is a scam in the distribution of canned fish stolen from this company.
Accordingly, a driver of this company was first arrested by the police while he was transferring a stolen stock of canned fish from a lorry owned by the company to another vehicle in Oliamulla area. During the questioning of the arrested driver, information about the other suspects involved in this scam has been revealed.
It has been revealed that they take the stolen canned fish and hide it in a house in Ratmalana. Accordingly, the police officers went to Ratmalana and took the stock of canned fish into police custody.
Among these canned fish, there was a large stock of expired and about-to-expire canned fish. The police officers have found that the expiry dates on the labels of these canned fish have been changed.
A 48-year-old Chinese man was arrested on suspicion of directing the scam. A 34-year-old businessman residing at Mahawatta Road, Kotikawatta, a 52-year-old businessman residing at Sri Anagarika Mawatha, Dehiwala, and a 51-year-old businessman residing at Pitipana North, Homagama have acted as his assistants. Police say that among the other suspects, there is a lorry driver who lives in Madampe and a labourer who lives in Hatton.
