A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Monday, July 17, 2017
CID claims Britisher provided vital info, identified phone seized by navy
Alleged wartime disappearances:
Police headquarters yesterday claimed that the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID), probing the alleged involvement of a group of navy
officers in eleven wartime disappearances, had recorded the statement of
British national Mike Horgan, who allegedly witnessed one of the
abductions.
Police spokesman and attorney-at-law SP Ruwan Gunasekera said Horgan had
been here to arrange for a victim, identified as Soosai, from Mannar to
join a football team in the UK.
Addressing a hurriedly arranged media conference at the Information
Department, SP Gunasekera said the navy had abducted the footballer’s
father. The police spokesman described the Britisher as the person in
charge of a local football team in Britain.
The group of missing persons Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese.
SP Gunasekera said that they hadn’t been involved in terrorism and were
also cleared by the military.
SP Gunasekera said investigations had got underway after police
headquarters received a written complaint from the then navy chief
Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda on May 28, 2009, soon after the successful
conclusion of the war.
The CID launched an inquiry on June 10, 2009.
Gunasekera said the CID had recorded the foreigner’s statement in
respect of the abduction as well as seizure of his hand phone allegedly
by the navy.
At the onset of the briefing the police spokesman said police had
decided to brief the media in the wake Commodore DKP Dassanayake’s
arrest in connection with the disappearances.
The Joint Opposition flayed the government over the arrest in the wake
of UN Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson. It said last Friday a senior
officer had been arrested in connection with the disappearance of over
11 persons. Emmerson said the arrest had been made close on the heels of
Army Chief Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake’s public assurance that those
members of armed forces who had committed crimes would be brought to
justice.
The police spokesman said Admiral Karannagoda had complained to police
headquarters against his chief security officer Lt. Commander Sampath
Munasinghe on May 28, 2009 following the recovery of four national
identity cards, one passport bearing the name of one of those whose
national identity cards were found, one mobile phone, promissory notes
worth over one million rupees and approximately 450 rounds of ammunition
from Munasinghe’s cabin. The police official said that Admiral
Karannagoda wanted to have Munasinghe investigated as regards his
possible involvement with terrorists primarily due to him being in
possession of ammunition not issued to him by the navy.
Gunasekera said the Britisher had identified the hand phone recovered
from Munasinghe as the one seized from him. The official said that the
Britisher had provided vital evidence and investigators were in the
process of examining available data.
The lawyer said that the four national identity cards that had been
found were issued to the missing footballer, his father and two other
residents of Kotahena and Trincomalee.
Following Admiral Karannagoda’s complaint, the CID had received
information from the navy that led to the arrest of Lt. Commander
Hettiarachchi.
Subsequent investigations revealed that those who had been responsible
for four abductions were accountable for seven more disappearances in
Kotahena, Grandpass, Maradana and Dematagoda and Dehiwela in 2008.
SP Gunasekera said that the abductions had been carried out to obtain
ransom. Asked by The Island whether the victims’ were wealthy for them
to be especially targeted, the SP said they had money.
Claiming that investigators had gathered vital information regarding the
use of hand phones by missing persons during secret detention at
Chaitya road, Colombo and Trincomalee, Gunasekera said that the
abductors used a vehicle seized from a missing person. They had changed
the chassis number and used it as a navy vehicle, the police officer
said.
According to SP Gunasekera the detained persons used hand phones
belonging to some navy personnel based at places where they were held.
"Obviously, some navy personnel resented what was happening," the police
spokesman said. The official said that some family members of the
detained persons had even ‘reloaded’ phones belonging to navy officers
as their loved ones used them.
The then Captain Dassanayake had been the officer in charge of two
special teams headed by Lt. Commander Hettiarachchi and Lt. Commander
Ranasinghe responsible for the disappearances, the police spokesman
said.
He said with the arrest of Commodore Dassanayake, now attached to the
Office of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) the number of navy
personnel taken in connection with disappearances had gone upto seven.
Of them, Lt. Commander Munasinghe, who had been arrested at the beginning of the investigation was given bail.
Asked by The Island how one officer whose arrest led to other personnel
being implicated in disappearances received bail, the Police spokesman
said that it was not a problem. The spokesman emphasized that it did not
mean Lt. Commander Munasinghe had been cleared and no longer under
investigation.
The police spokesman said that they had received altogether 28
complaints as regards disappearances though only eleven were being
investigated at the moment.
When The Island sought an explanation regarding the inordinate delay in
the CID making arrests in spite of receiving a complaint in May 2009, SP
Gunasekera said that investigations were complicated and the progress
slow. However, since the change of the government, the process had been
accelerated and they were going ahead with investigations.
Gunasekera said there could be further arrests.
Responding to another query, Gunasekera said that some family members of
the missing had met Captain Dassanayake at that time and the CID could
prove its case.