Acting on the instructions of the HSBC Card Centre, its dealers recently helped the Colombo police to arrest three Malaysians believed to be members of a group engaged in a major racket in counterfeit international credit cards.

The staff at a shop, located at the Colombo Hilton and Crescat, got in touch with the HSBC Card Centre when the Malaysians bought expensive wristwatches using their credit cards.

As they were directed to get in touch with the HSBC Card Centre immediately if their customers, particularly foreigners make substantial credit card payments, the staff alerted the Centre, a police investigator said.

The staff deliberately delayed the completion of the transaction to allow the local police to apprehend the suspects, a CID official told The Island yesterday. Two of them were taken in at the Colombo Hilton by the Fort police and the other at Crescat by Kollupitiya police. Subsequently, the suspects had been handed over to the CID. Inquiries are conducted by IP P Vishvanadan and IP Duminda Nanayakkara on the directions of SSP A. R. Waidyalankara.

The couple arrested at the Hilton were described as a clerk of Malaysia’s Bhumiputhra Bank and her husband believed to be a water sports instructor. The person arrested at the Crescat was described as a key member of the gang. "We believe at least three others accompanied them. We are in the process of tracking them down," the official said, while claiming they were members of an international gang specialising in the lucrative counterfeit credit card racket.

The ongoing investigations revealed the suspects arrived in Colombo using genuine Malaysian passports, he said. But that the time they were arrested, they had fake Singaporean passports. Although they had travelled on Malaysian passports, the fake Singaporean passports had been stamped with the Immigration and Emigration seal.

Under interrogation, the suspects claimed that they were kidnapped by Thai gangsters in Bangkok and were forced to travel to Colombo where they were ordered to purchase certain expensive items using counterfeit credit cards made available to them.