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Foreign couple jailed after falsely claiming to be snatch theft victims
On March 27, Hewa Sahabanduge Waruna Kanishka (left) was sentenced to five months’ jail, while his wife, Jayasekara Gamlath Ralalage Yehelichathurika, was sentenced to two months’ jail.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
Andrew Wong
Published Mar 27, 2026, 04:55 PM
Updated Mar 27, 2026, 05:15 PM
SINGAPORE - To evade Customs duties he expected to incur upon returning to Sri Lanka from his trip in Singapore, a man lied to the police that he was a victim of a snatch theft.
The foreign national believed that by fabricating the incident, he would be able to avoid paying the required Customs fees.
Despite his wife’s reluctance, he went ahead with his plan.
On March 27, Hewa Sahabanduge Waruna Kanishka, 30, was sentenced to five months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to giving false information to a public servant and for obstruction of justice.
His wife, Jayasekara Gamlath Ralalage Yehelichathurika, 29, was sentenced to two months’ jail after pleading guilty to obstructing the course of justice.
Court documents show that Hewa lodged a police report at Rochor Neighbourhood Police Centre some time around March 4.
This was despite his wife dissuading him from doing so and refusing to accompany him to the police station.
There, he claimed he was a victim of a snatch theft that had occurred one day before in Bugis Street. He told officers that a robber had stolen his bag which had several pieces of gold jewellery, a smartphone and $400 in cash.
Altogether, Hewa reported that about $21,668 had been stolen from him.
As the reported incident was time-sensitive, an investigative officer contacted Hewa shortly after and sought to meet him to investigate his claims.
But throughout his investigations, the officer noticed several discrepancies in Hewa’s report. He then called Hewa and asked to meet him at Changi Airport, where Hewa and his wife were waiting to board their departure flight.
The pair became frightened as they knew Hewa had filed a false report. They also suspected that the officer intended to confront him about the report.
Hewa and Jayasekara came up with a plan to purchase two bottles of carrot juice and hide the gold bracelet and gold chain Hewa had reported stolen inside the bottle.
At the airport, officers separated the pair for questioning, and Hewa eventually admitted the truth and confessed to fabricating the story.
He also showed officers where he had hidden the gold bracelet and chain by emptying the bottles.
