CID TO ARREST 10 NAVAL OFFICERS

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is preparing to take into custody about ten officers of the Sri Lanka Navy who are believed to be having concrete evidence about the abduction and killing of a total of 11 individuals including five Tamil university students in Trincomalee in the years 2008 and 2009, within the next week.

However, a senior CID official said senior CID officers had received firm orders from top political authorities to not arrest any of these Navy officials.

The source added, the warning against the imminent arrest had come because of accusations being made by the Joint Opposition, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, against the government regarding the arrest of war heroes.

“However, while we have positive information that they have definite evidence about these abductions and killings, we cannot avoid taking them into custody. Everyone should be aware of the fact, that even if they are war heroes, no one in the country has the right to commit murder and they cannot use the power of their uniform to engage in despicable crimes ” he added. He also said, he believed that these Navy personnel had used the power of their uniforms and engaged in massive robberies. A Navy Lieutenant Colonel connected with this incident has already been remanded. If political authorities are obstructing the arrest of the other suspects, we wonder what we have to do in the circumstances, he added.

“By doing this, what will happen is that the people will lose their faith in the CID” he said. When this case was taken up for hearing last Thursday, the Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne ordered that the suspects be taken into custody immediately and be produced in Court.

The official further said Navy personnel including Captain D. K. J. Dassanayake, former Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda’s Personal Assistant Lieutenant Commander Sampath Munasinghe, Lieutenant Commander Sumith Ranasinghe and lower rankers Udaya Kumara and K. G. N. G. Wickremasinghe are to be taken into custody.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By Niranjala Ariyawansha)