3 women arrested from Windies players’ rooms

Top security has been provided by the police to the players of the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup matches in Sri Lanka, staying at the five-star Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo.

“The floor of the players is restricted area, the ICC has informed us not to allow anyone up without proper authorization, and we arrested the three women entering the room on that basis,” said police spokesperson Ajith Rohana.

The women arrested by plainclothes policemen of the Ministerial Security division (MSD) were whisked away to the Kollupitiya police station and then released a few hours later.

“We are not taking any chances, especially with the various scandals involving cricket, including bribery and match fixing,” said the police.

According to police reports the women claimed that they had met the cricketers at a pub on Monday evening and had gone up to their rooms on the invitation to have another drink.

“The West Indies cricketers also corroborated the story,” said the police spokesperson.

The Sri Lankan police said that the release of the women had been on the request of ICC officials and the management of the West Indies team.

A hotel employee who declined to be named said that the women were guests of Gayle, all rounder Andre Russell and Dwayne Smith.

“The proper protocol at the hotel in this instance would be for guests to register at the desk if they want to meet any of the players. Then the manager of the team is informed and only if they obtain the manager’s permission, are they allowed to go up,” he said. The management of the West Indies team was unavailable for comment.