News
Scammers who duped expatriate workers arrested
Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon inspecting the documents and equipment taken into custody from the scammers and the illegal Kachcheri.
Text and pix by PRIYAN DE SILVA
Acting on a complaint the Kirulapone police cracked a large scale scam, where the perpetrators duped Lankan expatriate workers into revealing details of their remittances after assuring them of being granted a loan under the Enterprise Sri Lanka loan scheme.
Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon, who visited the Kirulapone police station, to congratulate the police team who had made the breakthrough, said that the scammers had swindled millions of rupees.
Police were able to trace the culprits by tracing the owner of a mobile number used by one member of the gang and apprehended three persons, who are residents of Pitabeddara. The police also took into custody the mobile phones and computers used by the culprits and two vehicles.
On information elicited from the suspects the police raided an illegal kachcheri in Wellampitiya, where forged driving licences and identities had been produced.
The scammers had placed advertisement on social media announcing that expatriate workers would be granted loans under the former government’s ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ loan scheme.
Once inquiries were made and the initial application was received the scammers informed the applicants that their applications had been approved and requested them to open a Payfast account and transfer ten percent of the loan approved to the account or remit an equivalent sum through Western Union money transfer and got the victims to reveal their PINs.
The scammers obtained forged identities mostly driving licences through a contact operating near the RMV while the documents were made in Wellampitiya. The police arrested one of the two persons who had operated the illegal kachcheri and took into custody computers, printers and over 900 blank driving licence cards.
The Police requested all those who had fallen prey to the scammers to contact the OIC of the Kirulapone Police station on 071-8591582
A specialists committee has been appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation adhering to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 29.12.2025 for submitting appropriate recommendations analyzing the provisions of the draft bill formulation in regard to Animal Welfare.
Based on the recommendations of the said Committee, the Legal Draftsman has been instructed at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers held on 18.05.2026 to prepare the final bill on the animal welfare.
Wherefore, the Legal Draftsman has formulated the draft bill and the clearance of the Attorney General has been received in the connection.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to publish the said draft bill in the
Government Gazette Notification and subsequently forward the same to the Parliament for its concurrence.
Under the legal provisions for elections in this country since 2004, it is mandatory for voters who come to mark their votes to verify their identity through a valid identity card, and it is also mandatory for all such voters to be marked with an appropriate mark using indelible ink. The dual purpose of these two functions is to prevent a voter from voting more than once in a single election.
It has been observed that having to follow two different
methods at the same time to achieve the same objective hinders the efficiency of the duties performed at the polling stations and also incurs additional costs to the government.
Therefore, it has been deemed appropriate to remove the legal provisions regarding the use of indelible ink and marking the voter with the appropriate mark from all election acts.
Accordingly, the development activities of the province, as well as national security, will benefit. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the
President to take necessary steps to remove the legal provisions
• Section 36 of the presidential Election Act, No 15 of 1981
• Section 38 of the Parliamentary Election Act, No 01 of 1981
• Section 36 of the Provincial Council Election Act, No 02 of 1988
• Section 53 A of the Local Government Elections Ordinance (262 Authority)
• Section 21 of the Referendum Act No 7 of 1981
News
Showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts
WEATHER FORECAST FOR 24 JUNE 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 24 June 2026 by the Department of Meteorology
Several spells of showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts. Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts after 2.00 p.m.
Fairly strong winds about (30-40) kmph can be expectedat times over the Western slopes of the central hills, the Northern, North-central, North-western and Southern provinces and in Trincomalee district.
The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
Animal Welfare Draft Bill to be Gazetted
Legal provisions on marking voters using indelible ink during elections removed
Showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts
Court vacancy row throws Parliament into turmoil; sittings disrupted
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