A woman accused of having abducted the 1 ½-year-old infant of a female woman engaged in begging has been arrested in the Wanathavilluwa area last night.
The woman was arrested by the Bambalapitiya Police, while the male infant has been taken into Police custody.
Four individuals including the broker and the three-wheeler driver who had aided in transporting the child have also been arrested.
Investigations have revealed that the female suspect’s husband is overseas on employment and the woman had lost her child during 7 months of pregnancy while staying at a relative’s place in Colombo.
The woman had thereafter attempted to take another child along with her in order to return to her hometown, due to which she had obtained the assistance of a known person in the Dematagoda area to purchase an infant for Rs. 300,000.
The individual is reported to have taken the woman to the Dematagoda, Borella, and Bambalapitiya areas in search of a child, during which a cobbler had shared information with the duo of a female with an infant engaged in begging.
The Police stated as the woman engaged in begging had agreed to the deal, the suspect woman had provided Rs. 100,000 to her, Rs. 50,000 to the broker, Rs. 25,000 to the three-wheeler driver, and Rs, 25,000 to the other two individuals.
Even though the woman engaged in begging had initially agreed to the deal she had later refused. The suspect woman had thereafter abducted the child while the woman engaged in begging was at a car park in Slave Island and had returned to Wanathavilluwa in a hired vehicle.
The Police stated that the woman engaged in begging had filed a complaint with the Police after which the Police had traced the three-wheeler via CCTV evidence which led to the arrest of the group.
Investigations have revealed that the woman engaged in begging and her husband are severely addicted to drugs. She along with the other five suspects, including the 53-year-old suspect woman, are to be produced before the courts. (NewsWire)