Easter Sunday Commission SIS informed TID to halt probe on SL ISIS follower

By Yoshitha Perera   

The State Intelligence Service (SIS) in 2018 had asked the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) to halt an inquiry with regard to ISIS follower Mohommad Nilabdeen Mohammed Rimzan who had returned to Sri Lanka after joining the Islamic State (IS) organisation, former Director of TID DIG Nalaka de Silva yesterday informed PCoI probing Easter Sunday attacks.  

In 2018, former IGP Pujith Jayasundara had instructed the TID to continue the inquiry with regard to Rimzan and to deploy a special police team to interrogate him at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) as he may be deported from Turkey.   

“When the SIS informed the TID to halt the investigation on Rimzan, I asked them to forward a letter through the IGP with regard to the request to discontinue the investigation on Rimzan,” former DIG Silva said.   

However, on March 14, 2018 the IGP Jayasundara had sent a letter to the then Law and Order Ministry’s Secretary Padamasiri Jayamanna instructing the TID to halt the ongoing inquiry on Rimzan.   

Former DIG de Silva further added that the TID had submitted weekly reports to former IGP Jayasundara on Zahran Hashim and Abdul Lathif Mohommad Jameel, who blasted himself at Dehiwala Tropical Inn.   

“The TID had submitted several reports to the former IGP Jayasundara, with regard to National Thawheed Jamaath (NTJ) and its extremist practices,” he said.