Offerings to a king cobra to unearth treasure

A member of a gang was arrested on Wednesday (5) along with several valuable objects that were part of a treasure that he and his accomplices had unearthed from a private land in a scam that they had been running.

These persons had been attempting to trick people into believing that by offering a pooja the treasure that was believed to be protected by a king cobra, and was located under a Banyan Tree on a private land in Dambakele – Karavitagara, Chilaw, could be accessed.

When a team from the antivice unit of the Chilaw police rushed to the site after receiving a tip-off that the suspect was engaged in performing a pooja by garlanding a clay image of a cobra while spreading incense around, they had detected a tunnel which was around 12 feet in length and 10 feet deep that had been dug by the gang.

The suspect was engaged in performing a pooja by garlanding a clay image of a cobra while spreading incense around,

While police had managed to nab one of the culprits the others had fled after spotting the approaching police convoy. The clay image of the cobra, an iron spike, and several torches were among the objects taken into police custody.

Under the direction of the Chilaw SP C. Saliya De Silva and ASP S.S. Wickramasuriya , Chief Inspector of the Chilaw Police Manoj Ranagala led the arresting party that also included the OIC of the anti-vice squad IP D.M.C. Disanayaka SI Kumarasena, PCs Asoka 31581, Subasinha 66070, Bandara 60927, Dileepa 87471, and Jayasinha 88613.