Nearly 2400 suspects arrested after Easter Sunday attacks

A total of 2389 suspects have been arrested in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, Deputy Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Nalin Bandara told Parliament. 

By Sandun Jayawardana

A total of 2389 suspects have been arrested in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, Deputy Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Nalin Bandara told Parliament. 

Opening the debate on extending the State of Emergency for one month, Mr Bandara said 236 of these suspects are currently in remand custody while 189 are being questioned under detention orders. Of the 189 in detention, three are being held under emergency regulations while the other 186 are being detained under the Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) Act, he revealed. 

"Accordingly, 425 suspects are currently in remand custody or are held under detention orders. There is enough evidence to charge 263 of them in court. The Attorney General's Advice has already been sought regarding 94 of the suspects while steps are being taken to send the details of another 42 suspects to the Attorney General. Seven suspects have been released without charge," he told Parliament. 

He further revealed that a group of suspects who are alleged to be directly linked to the Easter Sunday attack are also being held separately by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) and the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD). Accordingly, 79 suspects are in the custody of the CID while the TID and CCD are both holding 29 suspects each. 

"We believe that most of the main suspects are now under arrest. As such, we can say that the country's security has been assured," the Deputy Minister said. He however, said extending the State of Emergency was necessary as investigations were still ongoing and while the police were empowered to arrest individuals under the PTA, the tri-forces cannot do so without the emergency being in place. 

He also said there were individuals who needed to be tracked down and monitored, revealing that there were individuals who had attended series of lectures given by Easter Sunday attack mastermind Zahran Hashim before dropping out. "

The tri forces and police are working to find out why they dropped out and if they also have connections to the terrorists. There are 51 suspects who are only being held because they attended Zahran's lectures. They have not been involved in anything else and we can't charge them for attending his lectures. However, we need to be very careful about releasing them. We need to look into whether they can undergo some form of rehabilitation before being integrated back into society," he said. 

Mr Bandara also said a further 151 suspects were taken into custody in relation to the communal violence that took place in the weeks following the Easter Sunday attacks. Legal action will be taken against these suspects as well, he added.