Two people have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a stock of textbooks worth about 800,000 rupees issued by the Department of Educational Publications for distribution to students in the Eastern Province.
The Thalangama Police say that the lorry driver who transported the stock of textbooks sold the stock of books to a bottle seller and received a sum of Rs. 470,000 from the sale.
The stock of 19,892 textbooks issued for distribution to students in the Eastern Province that was sold in this manner was a stock of 19,892 textbooks issued for distribution to students in the Eastern Province. An institution in the Biyagama area had entered into an agreement with the Department of Educational Publications to transport the stock of books. Last May, a driver of a lorry belonging to that institution had accepted the stock of books for transportation.
However, upon receiving information that the stock of books had not been handed over properly, an officer of the Department of Educational Publications recently filed a complaint with the Thalangama Police.
The police, which initiated investigations into the matter, arrested the driver of the lorry in question and during the investigations conducted, it was revealed that he had sold the stock of books to a bottle newspaper vendor for a paperweight.
Accordingly, the police have also arrested the person who purchased the stock of books. It has been revealed that the stock of books had been sold to an old newspaper and paper mill in the Peliyagoda area and investigations are underway to arrest several other suspects involved in the incident, the Thalangama Police stated.