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Sri Lankan women in the Kingdom who want to go home for their Eid holidays are panicking over recent incidents in the country caused by night prowlers dubbed “grease devils.”
A grease devil is a thief who wears only underwear and covers his body in grease to make himself hard to grab if pursued.
Panic over midnight assaults by the alleged grease devils is rising across rural Sri Lanka, leading to the deaths of at least three people last week. This has prompted women to stay indoors and men to arm themselves, police and local media said.
At least seven were wounded fighting with police outside the navy base in Kinniya after hundreds of mainly Muslim residents in the eastern coastal area demanded soldiers hand over two men who tried to abduct a 28-year-old Muslim woman the night before. The incidents are happening mainly in areas where there is a concentration of minority communities such as Muslims and Tamils.
According to police, incidents relating to grease devils were reported in Badulla, Mahiyangana, Girandurukotte, Rambewa, Siyabalanduwa, Alawathugoda, Kantale, Ampara, Nuwara Eliya, Hasalaka, Ridimaliyedda, Bibile, Nawalapitiya, Kinniya, Muttur and Pottuvil.
Rashika, a housewife who was going to Sri Lanka for her son’s wedding, told Arab News that she would not travel outside Colombo to give wedding invitations to her relatives living in rural areas because of the panic.
Riyaza, a breastfeeding mother from Abu Dhabi, told Arab News that she is hesitant to go to Sri Lanka because of a rumor that grease devils were targeting mothers like her.
Mohammed Hafeel from Weligama, south of Sri Lanka, said that his wife does not go for taraweeh prayers because of the attacks.
Another Sri Lankan said he had told his family to cut short their vacation in Sri Lanka and return to Riyadh on the first available flight as he was worried by the attacks. “Many Sri Lankans in the Gulf called me to check on the authenticity of the reports. They had real anxiety in their tone, showing concern for their families living back home,” Hameed Mowlana said, adding that his Sri Lankan domestic cleaner boy was the hardest to convince.
“Tough action will be taken against those who spread rumors about ‘grease devils,’” Inspector General of Police N. K. Illangakoon said. He added that the police arrested five such people spreading rumors on Monday in Gampola.
“The situation in the Eastern Province is under control now. The police have taken steps to maintain law and order in the areas where the incidents took place,” according to a statement he made to a Sri Lankan local daily.
Police have so far arrested 47 people involved in robberies and frightening women by portraying themselves as grease devils.
He said that the public should not disrupt their day-to-day activities because of these rumors. “During investigations it was revealed that some had spread stories about grease devils roaming the area to carry out robberies and others had done it for fun,” he said.
Illangakoon said that there is no such thing as grease devils in villages across the country. During investigations they have been able to identify that most of the suspects are residents of the same area who commit robberies and other criminal activities.
According to reports from Colombo on Friday, police said they fired tear gas to disperse dozens of people who besieged a police station in the eastern town of Potuvil, demanding the release of four men who had captured and planned to lynch a suspected grease devil.
On Tuesday in the eastern village of Ottamavadi, six people including two police officers were injured in a melee after angry residents stormed a police station after the release of a suspected grease devil. (ArabNews)
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