By Rathindra Kuruwita

Former President Maithripala Sirisena had been informed, on 2 February 2019, of extremist activities by National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ), but the latter did not give him an opportunity to discuss the matter at the National Security Council (NSC), former CID Director Shani Abeysekara on Tuesday (26)  night informed the PCoI probing the Easter Sunday attacks. The ex-CID Director said that following their investigations on the vandalizing of Buddha statues at Mawanella in 2018 and the detection of explosives at the Wanathawilluwa Jihadist training camp on January 2019, the CID had informed President Sirisena the gravity of the situation and the threat posed by the NTJ to the country’s national security. “On February 2, 2019, during a meeting with former President Maithripala Sirisena at his residence, former CID SDIG Ravi Seneviratne informed Sirisena of the threat posed by NTJ to the country’s national security. Presdent Sirisena informed us that he would give us an opportunity to discuss the matter at the NSC.

However, the CID had never got the opportunity, he added. The Commissioners asked the witness whether President Sirisena had been informed that Zahran Hashim was behind the Mawanella and Wanathawilluwa incidents. Abeysekara said that it was unlikely that Sirisena would focus on one person because he had been informed of the NTJ. He added that the NTJ’s plan was to carry out an attack in May 2020, but that plan changed after the raid of the jihadist camp. The Commissioners also asked the witness about the release of two suspects arrested at the jihadist camp. Abeysekara said that in February 2019 there was a meeting with former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and former Western Province Governor Azath Salley and during that meeting Salley had asked them to release these suspects.”I didn’t want to grant the request because those suspects were under detention and were to be questioned. Later, CID CI Janaka Marasinghe, who was in charge of the investigation, gave me a report saying that there was insufficient evidence against the two men. I had to release them.”

Abeysekara was also asked why the CID  had failed to arrest Zahran Hashim. The CID usually traced a suspect by tracking a person’s phone connection and call details, he said. “Zahran and his team had used an app named ‘Threema’ to make calls. That was the reason why we couldn’t locate him.”