Arrest of four SL nationals in India
Colombo, May 22: Sri Lanka police on Wednesday said a senior Deputy Inspector General will head a team appointed to investigate four of its citizens arrested in Gujarat when on an alleged mission to carry out terror activities in India at the behest of the banned Islamic State.
Acting on a tip-off, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Sunday apprehended four Sri Lankan nationals at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel airport in Ahmedabad after they travelled from Colombo via Chennai.
The men travelled to India to carry out terror activities at the behest of the banned terror outfit Islamic State (IS) and are members of IS radicalised by a leader from Sri Lanka who is living in Pakistan, according to the Indian police.
“A senior Deputy Inspector General-headed police team has been appointed by the Inspector General Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon,” police Spokesman and Senior Superintendent Nihal Thalduwa told PTI.
He said the police chief’s action followed official intimation of the Lankan citizens’ arrests by the Indian authorities.
The appointed DIG has the crime investigation division and the terrorism investigation division of the police under his command, Thalduwa said, adding that they would coordinate with the intelligence agencies in the probe.
On Tuesday, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles and IGP Tennakoon said they were taking these reports seriously and closely monitoring the developments.
Alles and Tennakoon said they would initiate discussions with Indian authorities to gather detailed information about the suspects and their activities, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported. (PTI)
