Over 700 arrested over Easter Sunday attacks

A total of 702 suspects have been arrested over the Easter Sunday bomb attacks as of today, Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said.

He said that 202 of them are currently in remand custody while 83 others have been detained by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) for interrogations.

DIG Rohana said that among the detained were, Easter Sunday attack mastermind Zahran Hashim's wife Hadiya and Mohamed Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, the spokesman said that nearly 80 persons were arrested recently for having attended extremist ideology lessons or
for conducting classes propagating extremist ideology.

Last week, the TID arrested three persons including the father-in-law of Zahran Hashim in Kuliyapitiya for having attended extremist ideology lessons conducted by Zahran.

Today, the CID arrested former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and his brother Riyaj Bathiudeen over the investigation into the Easter Sunday attack  under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for aiding and abetting the suicide bombers of the Easter Sunday attacks.(DSB)