Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Dr. Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday requested foreign job seekers to consult the Bureau before payments to job agents. The Minister made this request following the arrest of a bogus job agent yesterday who had masqueraded as a person connected to the Minister and several other powerful persons in the Government. He had duped 300 job seekers into parting with rupees 26 million promising them jobs in countries like Japan.

A number of detections have been made by the Special Investigations Unit of the Bureau under the personal supervision of Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka. In one instance, a bogus job agent from Kelaniya had cheated 1800 job seekers of Rs. 60 million promising employment in Israel. Another person operating in Negombo had promised employment to 400 persons in Israel and collected 20 million from them.

The Special Investigation Unit recently raided this bogus job agency in Kirulapone and seized applications of 610 persons seeking jobs in Japan.

The officials recovered bank slips to the value of rupees 26 million that had been paid by 300 persons and also detected 200 separate files.