Ex-Maldivian minister arrested over rape of underage Lankan girl

By Norman Palihawadane

A former Maldivian Minister is among 32 suspects arrested over the exploitation and rape of an underage Sri Lankan teen.

Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said that the ex-Maldivian Minister had reached the girl via the Internet. He said that a hotel manager had also been arrested in connection with the incident.

The mother of the child, the Deputy Chairman of the Mihintale Pradeshiya Sabha and a captain of a ship are among the other suspects arrested over the sex scam.

The suspects now in custody also include the main accused.

A three-wheel driver, a car driver and the suspect involved in designing the website used to sell the child for sex, were also arrested earlier.

The 15-year-old girl had been sold for sex via the internet to multiple customers for sums ranging from Rs. 10,000, to Rs. 30,000 over a period of three months. She had been first marketed as a virgin.

The Police Spokesman said that another 12 suspects had also been identified and are to be arrested.

Preliminary investigations had revealed that the suspect had rented an apartment in Mount Lavinia to conduct his operations.

The suspect, who is reported to have sold the girl to several people on a daily basis, is said to have bought the girl from her mother, who is a resident of Delgoda.

Later in the evening four of the suspects including the Maldives’ former state minister of finance Mohamed Ashmalee (38) were produced before Colombo Additional Magistrate Lochani Abeywickrama and were ordered to be remanded till July 16. Others were a cashier of a Colombo-based hotel Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Malinga, owner of the Lankaads.com Ranasinghe Arachchige Duminda Sampath Perera of Panadura and Finance Manager of the website Makewelagedara Dhanuka Kaushalya of Bandaragama.