Sajith slams attempts to protect those linked to Easter Sunday attacks

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka's Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa speaking in Parliament on Friday (22) revealed that Chula Kodithuwakku from Military Intelligence) had prevented detectives from interrogating a Military Intelligence Officer over the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

He said that following the brutal attacks that took place on the 21st of April 2019, the FBI has assisted in the investigation and provided Sri Lankan law enforcement with an IP address.

"The FBI provided an IP address, and it was proven that an intelligence officer was the person who maintained the most links with Zaharan over the phone via that IP address. When this was looked at, Chula Kodithuwakku from the Military Intelligence tells SP Darshika from the CID that this particular person cannot be interrogated and questioned, citing an issue related to national security," he said.

On Thursday (21), Sri Lanka's Acting Defence Minister Premitha Bandara Tennakoon confirmed for the very first time the existence of code-named intelligence gathering linked to the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

Following the attacks that rocked Sri Lanka in 2019, various opinions were expressed over the code names "Sonic Sonic" and "Abu Hindh."

The Acting Defence Minister said that sonic is an intelligence officer, and he is the person who sneaked into the terror cell of Zaharan Hashim and extracted information. 

"When the phone records and the IP address of the person code-named Sonic-Sonic was being looked into, the chip in question was taken by a female police sergeant. That officer says it was her SIM card, but was given to her boyfriend, SI Bandara, who is now IP Bandara. The evidence reveals that this intelligence officer pleaded with 'Podi Zaharan' as to why ISIS was not claiming responsibility even after so many explosions took place." said Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa on Friday (22). 

According to Sajith Premadasa, when these matters were being investigated, DIG Sampath Liyanage from the State Intelligence Service had noted that SI Bandara cannot be questioned, as there are very sensitive matters related to national security.

He also said that the investigations into the analysis carried out on phone numbers linked to the intelligence officers revealed that the SIM cards were purchased by Ceylon Shipping Alliance at No. 88, Bauddhaloka Mamatha, Colombo 3, and Sajith Premadasa said the address alone was bogus.

However, he said that these SIM cards were linked to other brutal crimes that took place in Sri Lanka.

"What is even more dangerous is that these SIM cards were also used in the plan that was hatched to assassinate Lasantha Wickremethunge," he added.

Moreover, the Opposition Leader said that "Abu Hindh" was the mastermind of the 2019 Easter Sunday Terror attacks, and the name "Abu Hindh" was the pseudonym of the mastermind.

The Acting Defence Minister on Thursday (21) a revelation on the name "Adu Hindh."

"Zaharan and his network used online platforms for their activities. This (Adu Hindh) is a pseudonym that was used by an international intelligence agency to get in contact with this group of extremists and extract information," he explained.