Seven young men who had been arrested on suspicion while at a luxury hotel in Colombo have been granted bail by the Fort Magistrate’s Court.
The Criminal Investigations Department had recently arrested the group after they had attempted to illegally change Rs. 75 million in US Dollars.
The men who were produced before the Fort Magistrate on December 08 had been remanded until today.
The suspects were arrested following a raid conducted by the Police at a star hotel in Colombo 03, based on a tip-off that a group of Chinese nationals were at the hotel with a pistol.
Following an inspection of the fifth floor of the hotel during the raid, the Police found seven young Sri Lankan men with Rs. 75 million in cash and a pistol, while no Chinese national was among them.
Interrogations of the suspects revealed that they were employees of a private firm in Ragama and that they had received the relevant amount by transferring a check received from that institution, which was brought to be exchanged in US Dollars.
The suspects had further said that they were ready to carry out the currency exchange for Rs. 316 rupees per dollar and resell a dollar at Rs. 320.
The group had also confessed to having carried out such currency exchanges on several previous occasions. (NewsWire)