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Sirisena did not show interest: Shani

27 Jan 2021

  • Same group behind Mawanella statue and Wanathawilluwa weapons cache

  By Waruni Samarasinghe   Former President and incumbent parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena did not show any interest in Zahran Hashim’s group and the potential for them to commit acts of terror despite detailed intelligence being provided to him, according to former Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director Shani Abeysekara. Abeysekara said this to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing the Easter Sunday bombings of 21 April 2019, testifying before the Commission from the National Hospital Colombo via Skype for the second consecutive day yesterday (26). He testified that the former President was informed that it was the same extremist criminal group that was behind the breaking of Buddha statues in Mawanella, and the finding of a cache of explosives from Wanathawilluwa, and that they could therefore get involved in large-scale destructive activity targeting human lives in the future. He added that during this period, he and the Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of the CID Ravi Seneviratne had informed Sirisena not to take the matter lightly and instead arrange for them to raise the matter at the National Security Council (NSC). Sirisena had answered in the affirmative but had never summoned the duo to speak further in this regard or to provide further information concerning such. Responding to questions posed by a Senior State Counsel, he explained that the Leader of the said group was identified as one Zahran Hashim and that a police team under his supervision including Inspector of Police (IP) Marasinghe, had been attempting to arrest Hashim. When a commissioner questioned him as to whether Hashim’s name had been mentioned to Sirisena when they had raised the matter with him, Abeysekara answered in the negative. “If a person doesn’t care when a group’s involvement is mentioned, will such a person be concerned if an individual’s name is mentioned?” he further replied. When a commissioner queried as to why Hashim could not be arrested, Abeysekara elaborated that while they generally ascertained the whereabouts of suspects through telephone tower log records, Hashim and his group had used the mobile phone application named Threema which made it difficult to ascertain with certainty the exact location of the group. “We requested the relevant information from the company that owned the said app. I have written records of this. But they were not forthcoming in providing us with the information,” he said. He also noted that a bloodbath could have occurred if the weapons found in the Lacktowatte Estate in Wanathawilluwa had been used, and also that from the investigation into the Wanathawilluwa weapons cache, a plan for an attack which was to take place by May 2019 had come to light. Abeysekara said that, had they been summoned to provide further information in this regard, they could have even provided a detailed report concerning the matter.


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