Man who rearranged van seats found near St. Anthony’s church arrested: Police

By Chaturanga Samarawickrama   

The officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the suspect who was involved in rearranging the seats of the white van which was found parked near the St. Anthony’s Shrine in Kochchikade. 

Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said the suspect, identified as Muhammad Adam Lebbe, was arrested in New Kattankudy on Tuesday (14) on receiving information by the CID after releasing four sketches of the suspect.  He is being questioned under CID custody.

Accordingly, several suspects who had links to the St. Anthony’s church terror attack had already been arrested and a few more are still at large, the spokesman said.   

The explosive-laden van was found parked near the church on April 22 and the Bomb Disposal Unit of the Special Task Force (STF) had to neutralize it through a controlled explosion. Since then, the Police sought public assistance to arrest the suspect with sketches drawn based on information received from four different eye-witnesses.   

The owner of the van (WP-PJ 4080) was identified as Mohamed Azam Mohammed Mubarak, alias ‘Abdullah’, who detonated a bomb at the Kingsbury Hotel, SP Gunasekara said.   The CID investigations had revealed that the suspect, the van owner, and another person was involved in rearranging the van’s seats.