Probe on fresh excavation at Zahran’s Wanathawilluwa house

By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe 

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), backed by the Government Analyst (GA), launched an investigation into a recent excavation carried out by a group of unidentified individuals in a residence at Lactowatta, Wanathawilluwa in Puttalam, which allegedly belongs to National Tawheed Jamaat (NTJ) leader Zahran Hashim. 

Several officials including GA Department’s Senior Assistant Analyst Rukshan Fernando arrived at the crime scene last Tuesday and launched the investigation only to be joined by a special team attached to the CID in Colombo. 

On January 16, CID sleuths had seized a large stock of explosives along with four suspects who were in charge of the house at Lactowatta. The CID also found a set of firearms and other items on several occasions. 

Preliminary investigations revealed that certain activities carried out in the compound had been linked with the Easter Sunday carnage. 
CID officials are probing to determine the purpose of the excavation, as in whether to unearth more buried explosives or arms.