I would like to warn members of some of the hazzards which can be experienced whilst doing the above.
The day before newyears day 2005 my wife and I who are regular visitors to Sri-lanka arrived there and set out for our hotel which was some 2 hours or so from Colombo, along the way our guide had arranged for me to detect on an ancient site and had obtained permission from a guide at the site to do just that, when we arrived he was waiting for us and walked us to an area which was easy to search and I took my machine from the car and set off to see what I could find, after about 5 minutes I was confronted by a very large man who put up his arm and demanded that I stop and accused me of being a Treasure Hunter he then demanded that we leave which we did immediately we walked back to the car and were followed by him he then took our registration number and called someone on his mobile. We then carried on to our destination which was still several hours away, as we arrived at an outpost we were signalled to pull in and stop ,it was then demanded of us that we get out of the car as it was to be searched for Treasure, of course none was found we were then instructed to follow a police car as we were to be questioned regarding our activity, this took another two hours back to the village we had just left.When we arrived we were met and escorted into the police station to be met by a senior officer who placed a statement in front of us and demanded that we sign it, as it was in Sinhalese I refused to do so unless I was able to read and understand what it alledged.The statement was then retyped in English which took another hour or so.SRi-lanka at xmas time is to say the least HOT it was now midnight and I was getting rather intolerant by now. The guide from the site had read the statement also and confirmed to the police that I had not found anything at all and demanded that he state that fact in a statement which he would prepare for them.At this time let me tell you how all of this came about.Before leaving on the trip I had contacted the Sri-lanka High Commissioner in Canberra asking for permission to take my machine into the country, he advised that that would be OK so long as I paid a duty on it upon arrival and when I was due to leave the country the duty would be refunded when I showed that I was taking the machine back to Australia.Back at the police station I was advised that the resident Monk had given instructions that I was to be taken before him the next morning and that I MUST surrender the machine to him.I then made it very clear to the policeman that that would not be happening and asked that he contact the Australian Consul in Colombo.My friend and guide at this point advised the senior policeman that I was a Magistrate in Australia and this incident could be blown out of all proportions should I call the Australian Consul in Colombo, at this point they reluctantly allowed us to leave without further ado they never even gave us a cup of Sri-lanka tea which I have quite a liking for. Needless to say the story spread like wildfire throughout the island the next day and I became known as the treasure hunter who was arrested, I am still recognised even to this day when I visit
much to the delight of my guide.
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