A group of CEB linked staff together with their accomplices were brought to book due to an excellent sharing of information between the Chief Engineer , CEB, Colombo North and the Jampettah Police last week.

On May 6th, a lady consumer of Jampettah Street visited the office of the Chief Engineer, CEB, Colombo North, Mrs. Soyza and informed her of a problem that she was facing and asked for advice as to what she (the consumer) should do.

A group of technical staff had visited her home on May 3rd and opened her meter box. They had informed her that her meter had been tampered with and that she was liable to be prosecuted by the CEB and she would be fined over Rs.200,000. They undertook to set things right if she paid them Rs.60,000.

Since she was frightened she paid them an advance of Rs.10,000 after which she called on the Chief Engineer Mrs. Soyza for advice. She was advised to contact this group on a mobile phone and call over in an hours time, the conversation being recorded. A trap was laid with Police officers from the Jampettah Police and CEB officers being in ambush in the house in question.

One person called over for the money, he was promptly arrested and his mobile phone was seized by the police. Subsequently a second suspect called on the phone belonging to the first suspect, Nihal. He too was trapped into the Police net. The second suspect arrived in a CEB vehicle. He had been hired through a manpower agency and was using a CEB vehicle, legally, although for an illegal purpose, Mrs. Soyza told the Island Financial Review.

On information received from the first suspect, a third suspect was also arrested. He is a minor staffer of the CEB, currently in service. All three suspects are in custody due to excellent coordination between the Colombo North CEB, Chief Engineer and the Jampettah Police.