SIS not bound to provide intelligence to police: Ex-IGP

 Though the SIS was not under his purview, when he was the IGP  in 2015, the then SIS director Nilantha Jayawardena had shared several  intelligence information with the Police, on the rise of Islamic  extremism in the country

By Yoshitha Perera   

The State Intelligence Service (SIS) comes under the Defence Ministry and is not bound to provide intelligence to the Police, former IGP N.K. Illangakoon yesterday informed the PCoI on the Easter Sunday attacks.   

Testifying PCoI sittings, Mr. Illangakoon said though the SIS was not under his purview, when he was serving as the IGP in 2015, the then SIS director Nilantha Jayawardena had shared several intelligence information with the Police, on the rise of Islamic extremism in the country.   

“In those letters circulated through the Police and the SIS, the former SIS director mentioned the damage which could be caused by National Thowheed Jamaat and Jamaath e Islam oorganisations, to Muslim youth in the country, by spreading extremism,” he said.   

Mr. Illangakoon said the Security Council had frequent discussions on the impact of spreading Islamic extremism in the country at the meetings which held between 2015 and 2016.   

“We had followed the situation frequently and created a special mechanism to monitor the spreading of Islamic extremism in the country,” he said and added that there was a reduction in  coordination at the Police department after detaching it from the Defence Ministry. 

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