3 December 2019 02:05 am
Following the controversy surrounding the alleged detention of an employee attached to the Swiss Embassy in Colombo, Daily Mirror learns an 'unofficial alert' had been issued at the airport to prevent the victim from leaving the country till the end of investigations.
A top government source said attempts were underway to fly the alleged victim out of the country due to claims of her ailing health, but the CID was yet to record a statement from her over the alleged detention by an unidentified group last week.
Although investigations into the complaint lodged by the Swiss Ambassador are underway, the CID said it was yet to gain access to the victim's statement.
"The alert has been issued to the airport staff as a precautionary measure. It is vital that the victim makes the statement in order to ascertain what exactly happened," the source said.
A statement by the Foreign Ministry on Sunday night said Foreign Affairs Ministry Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha together with Defence Secretary Major General Kamal Gunaratne and relevant officials met with Swiss Ambassador Hanspeter Mock and the Deputy Chief of Mission and briefed them on the progress of the probe by the CID.
The ministry advised that while the embassy had not presented the alleged victim to be interviewed by law enforcement officials despite their request to do so, based on information provided by the Swiss Mission last Friday, the investigation was nevertheless conducted.
"The ambassador was presented with clear evidence that the sequence of events and timeline of the alleged incident, as formally presented by the Swiss mission to the CID on behalf of the victim, did not correspond with the actual movements of the victim on that date, as borne out by witness interviews and technical evidence including Uber records, CCTV footage, telephone records and GPS data," the ministry said.