Navy to hand over Avant Garde reports to MOD

11 October 2015 09:20 pm

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne said yesterday that the report into the arms ship- Avant Garde- will be handed over to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) as the investigations into the matter has been concluded.

The Navy Commander said that investigations had been carried out under the directives of the President and the Secretary of Defence.

Meanwhile, an independent committee will be appointed to continue investigations into the vessel afterwards.

The Navy launched an investigation into the Sri Lankan-flagged ship carrying a stock of 810 weapons taken into custody after being spotted in the sea some 12 nautical miles off Galle last Tuesday (06).

He said some of the records submitted by the ship’s crew were contradictory and that a Ukrainian had been in charge of the ship at the time it was accosted though the ship’s records indicated that the Captain was a Sri Lankan.

“According to maritime law, they are bound to provide us information about the ship,” the Navy Commander said. (Darshana Sanjeewa)