Easter Sunday Commission: No one in camp heard Kattankudy bicycle bomb blast: ex-CID OIC

• Can’t believe that officers in the camp didn’t hear the sound of a bomb

By Yoshitha Perera   

There was an Army Camp near the area where a bicycle bomb exploded before Easter Sunday attacks in Kattankudy but no one in the camp had heard the blast, former Criminal Investigation Division OIC of the Kattankudy Police, M.P.M. Mohammed Jesuli informed the PCoI probing Easter Sunday attacks yesterday.   

Responding to a question raised by the commissioners, Jesuli said the Army camp was near the area where the bomb exploded but surprisingly the officers in the camp told Police that at that time they had not heard any sound of a blast. “It blasted on April 16, 2019.

We checked CCTV footage captured within the area but we couldn’t identify anything,” he said. He said the explosion happened at ‘Kirinkona Watta’, in Kattankudy and it was a private land near the beach. “Can’t believe that officers in the camp didn’t hear the sound of a bomb. The camp is situated within an area of 300 to 400 metres and one gate of the land is adjoining the camp,” the witness informed the commission. He said officers attached to SIS, STF, CID and military intelligence arrived at the site to conduct investigations. He said on April 26, 2019 the investigations were transferred to the CID under the directions of IGP Pujith Jayasundara, who is currently on compulsory leave.