Former director of Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) Deputy Inspector General Nalaka de Silva told the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks that investigations into the leader of the Muslim extremist group Saharan Hashim got halted due to his arrest.
The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to investigate into Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in various parts of Sri Lanka and report to parliament convened today for the third time at the parliamentary complex presided over by its Chairman MP Jayampathi Wickramaratne.
The Criminal Investigation Department arrested Nalaka de Silva in October last year following the claims made by a self-proclaimed anti-corruption activist Namal Kumara that the former DIG discussed an alleged plot to kill President Maithripala Sirisena and former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
The PSC first addressed the suggestions and the concerns raised by various parties regarding the opening of its proceedings to the media.
Testifying before the Committee, Nalaka de Silva said when he was in charge of the Terrorism Prevention Department of the State Intelligence Service during 2013 -2014 he was gathering intelligence information on extremist organizations and learned about these organizations and the people affiliated with them.
“We also learned about Saharan and we gathered intelligence information regarding him. There was no violent extremism although there was extremism, “the former DIG said.
However, as more information collected on Saharan from daily monitoring of his social media and such, the former DIG said, it became clear that he (Saharan) was heading towards violent extremism.
“We reported all the information based on internet activities to the High Court. When we started searching for Saharan, he was nowhere to be found. We suspected that he has left the country and obtained an open warrant to seek assistance from Interpol to move on with further investigations.”
Former DIG de Silva said he had send the reports regarding the investigations into Saharan to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) every week and the IGP told him to continue.
The witness said Saharan became more vociferous in his call to Muslim youth to take to violence after the Digana anti Muslim attacks last year. Before that he had begun to endorse actions of the IS and used his Facebook page to post IS videos.
“If Saharan posted a video on Face Book and iif it threatens national security we send it to the IGP to inform him. The Terrorism Investigation Division was under the IGP. The there is a threat to national security we inform the IGP right away, otherwise he is briefed every Monday,”
Courtesy: Colombo Page
