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CID on the hunt for three Avant Garde directors
View(s):Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detectives are still on the lookout for three directors of Avant Garde, the private security company charged with “illegally operating merchant vessels carrying firearms and explosives.”
They are Nissanka Senadipathi (Chairman), Air Vice Marshal D.M. Premachandra, a former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and retired Navy Commodore Nandana Diyabalanage.
Attorney General’s Department charges relating to firearms and explosives include 813 unlicensed automatic firearms and 200,000 rounds of ammunition. On Thursday, detectives arrested Saman Dissanayake, a former Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Defence and now serving as Secretary to the National Police commission. Besides charges of operating illegal merchant vessels carrying firearms and explosives in the seas off Galle, Mr. Dissanayake is also facing charges of fabricating evidence.
Mr. Dissanayake entered the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital after Attorney General Dappula de Livera directed Acting Police Chief Chandana Wickremeratne to arrest him.
Mr. Senadipathi and Mr. Diyabalanage left Sri Lanka before their arrest. Damayanthi Jayaratne, who served as Additional Defence Secretary, is reported to be now in New Zealand.
Others now in remand custody are Major General Palitha Fernando, a former Military Liaison Officer at the Ministry of Defence and Major General Karunaratne Egodawala.