Briton punished for stealing T20 World Cup tickets

Colombo - A Briton was given a one-year suspended prison sentence by a Sri Lankan court Thursday for stealing 84 International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 World Cup tickets.

Buller Pissero Antonio of Trevodrive Newhall in Manchester was caught by security guards when he attempted to steal the tickets while they were on sale in Colombo, reports Xinhua.

He was later formally arrested by the police and presented before the Colombo chief magistrate.

When produced before court he pleaded guilty. However due to the fact that he had no prior convictions he was given a one year prison sentence suspended for five years by chief magistrate Rashmi Singapulli.

He was arrested and the complaint made on Sept. 30.

The ICC T20 World Cup started Sep 18 and ended this weekend with the West Indies lifting the cup.

Tickets were in high demand since Sri Lanka had made it to the finals and several arrests were made locally of people attempting to sell tickets at an inflated price.

A teenager who was arrested had posted sale of tickets on his Facebook page and asked for 14 times the price of a ticket that was originally only $10 US dollars.