Lanka didn’t arrest citizens who joined IS as joining foreign terror outfit not against law: PM

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the government had known that Sri Lankan nationals who had joined the Islamic State had returned to the country, but they could not be arrested as joining a foreign terrorist organisation is not against the law.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for theEaster terror attacks on three Catholic churches and three luxury hotels thatclaimed 253 lives but the government has blamed a local Islamist extremistgroup National Tawheed Jamath (NTJ) for the bombings.

   

We knew they went to Syria…But in our country, to goabroad and return or to take part in a foreign armed uprising is not an offencehere, Wickremesinghe told Sky News.

We have no laws which enable us to take into custody peoplewho join foreign terrorist groups. We can take those who are, who belong toterrorist groups operating in Sri Lanka,” he was quoted as saying.

Facing public criticism for not acting against Islamistextremist groups in the island nation, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said someof the suspected attackers responsible for the Easter bombings were beingmonitored by the country’s intelligence services.

But authorities did not have “sufficient” evidenceto place the suspected attackers in custody prior to the attacks, he said.

Top officials have acknowledged that Sri Lanka receivedintelligence about possible terror strikes ahead of the attacks, but bothPresident Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Mnister Wickremesinghe have said thatthey did not receive the information.

Wickremesinghe told CNN that he did not rule out thepossibility of more attacks in the country. He said authorities were nowfocussing on “sleepers” – terrorists who could activate another roundof attacks.

“Police and security forces are rounding up thoseinvolved, but they’re also rounding up the sleepers, those used on second andthird rounds (of attacks),” he said.

“The danger has come down drastically, (but) we do haveto pick up some more sleepers, which we will do in the next few days.”

Sri Lankan police have released photos of six suspects,including three women, wanted for their involvement in the attacks and soughtinformation regarding them from the public.

Authorities earlier said nine bombers, believed to bemembers of local Islamist extremist group NTJ, carried out the blasts.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

6 − 3 =