Two piriven students arrested over theft of smartphones and cash worth over Rs. 1M

Two ‘piriven’ students have been arrested by the Eppawala Police in connection with the burglary of a mobile phone shop, during which the suspects allegedly broke the front glass door and stole smartphones and cash worth over Rs. 1 million.The two suspects were arrested yesterday (17) during a special operation conducted by the Police. Investigations revealed that the burglary had taken place in the early hours of July 4 at a mobile phone shop located near the Eppawala town bus stand.The suspects have been identified as two 14-year-old Piriven students residing at a monastic educational institution in the Andagala area of Eppawala. They are residents of Thalawa, Nabadawewa, and Eppawala in Rotawewa areas.Following the submission of facts to the Thambuttegama Magistrate’s Court, the suspects were arrested after an extensive investigation based on the IMEI numbers and signal data of the stolen mobile phones.Police stated that the suspects were identified with the assistance of CCTV footage recorded at the shop at the time of the incident, the police dog "Johnny" attached to the Thambuttegama Police K-9 Unit, the Fingerprint Division, and other police officers.At the time of their arrest, police recovered six smartphones valued at over Rs. 1 million and cash amounting to Rs. 5,000 from the possession of the suspects, said police.Investigations revealed that one of the suspects had visited the shop several days before the incident to inquire about the prices of several high-end mobile phones.Police said the student had later requested his father to purchase a mobile phone for him, but the request had been refused. Following this, the student allegedly returned to the shop with another friend and committed the theft.The suspects had reportedly kept two of the stolen mobile phones for their personal use and given the remaining phones to a Buddhist monk at the Pirivena, the student's father, and several other students.Police further revealed that one of the stolen phones had later been used with a SIM card belonging to the temple's monk, which helped investigators trace the suspects.Police suspect that the students may have committed the theft due to an addiction to an online game they had been playing on mobile phones.The two arrested minors and the recovered mobile phones are scheduled to be produced before the Thambuttegama Magistrate’s Court today (18).Further investigations are being conducted by a team of officers, including the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Colombo Crimes Division, under the direction of the OIC of the Eppawala Police Station.