Britisher arrested for theft of T20 tickets

The police arrested a British national who stole 103 ICC T20 world cup tickets worth over Rs.75000 from a ticketing counter in Colombo.

The 54-year-old man identified as Caesar Antonio Buller from Manchester was taken into custody at a ticket booth in the capital after sales staff alerted the police, an official said.

The incident was reported to have occurred at around 1.30 pm yesterday at the T20 World Cup ticketing centre on Stanley Wijesundere Mawatha in the Cinnamon Gardens police area.

The suspect had attempted to flee the area but the policemen on duty had surrounded him and taken him into custody. It was the first such incident reported during the tournament which is currently being held at three locations in Sri Lanka.

Police said they had only found 84 tickets in his possession at the time of arrest. He had then been taken to the Cinnamon Gardens police station and subjected to a full body search.

During the search police had found another 19 tickets hidden in his underwear. The man had been wandering about in the area for at least two hours before trying to get away with the T20 tickets. He had taken five ticket books from the table at which they were sold — at the Thurstan College Sports Complex Grounds. He had accidentally torn some of the tickets as he attempted to hide them in his underwear.

According to the investigators the tickets were to be issued for the rest of the super eight matches, the semifinals and the final.

By: Supun Dias
Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)