• Zahran’s wife had been questioned both before and after the Easter  Sunday attacks and she had never mentioned that her husband had met any  Intelligence Officers
• Zahran had no connections with the Intelligence units or with the security force

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

Zahran, who led the Easter Sunday attacks, never met anyone from the Intelligence units as per the available evidence, Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera told Parliament yesterday.  

Making a special statement in the House, the Minister said Zahran’s wife had been questioned both before and after the Easter Sunday attacks and she had never mentioned that her husband had met any Intelligence Officers. “ I have gone through the records of evidence and no such documents reveal anything about her husband meeting Intelligence Officers.  Zahran had no connections with the Intelligence units or with the security force,” the Minister said while tabling documents pertaining to investigations on the Easter Sunday attacks.   He also said the lorries which had been apprehended at the Galanigama exit point on April 4 2019 had contained only ornamental fish imported from China. “This consignment of ornamental fish had been imported by Rajagiriya Tropical Fish Ltd. A senior police officer had ordered the lorries to be released as the drivers of the lorries had claimed the fish would go bad in the event of a delay,” he said.  

 “MPs Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara who made the remarks on Easter Sunday attacks earlier this week, had come up with blatant lies, It was their government which destroyed the Intelligence units. The UNP- led- governments had always engaged in destroying the Intelligence units and they did it in 2003. The Millennium city incident led to the killing of Intelligence Officers. Easter Sunday attacks would have been prevented if those efficient Intelligence Officers were alive. It was the previous government which neglected the warnings given by former Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa who said several Sri Lankan Muslims had undergone ISIS training in Syria and had returned to the island. The lies told by MPs Fernando and Nanayakkara had put the Catholic clergy  in difficulty.” he said.