Colombo:

Sri Lankan police arrested three persons on suspicion of plotting an attack against Israeli tourists in the eastern coast surfing resort of Arugam Bay following a tip-off from Indian intelligence, authorities said on Thursday.

Public Security Minister Vijitha Herath said all three suspects arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division of the police are Sri Lankan nationals.

They are being interrogated to ascertain if they had a plan to carry out the attack targeting Israelis, the minister said.

Earlier, police announced the arrest of two persons and said it came as a result of Indian intelligence information, which warned of an attack between October 19 and 23.

On Wednesday, the US embassy and the British High Commission in Colombo issued statements warning their citizens that they had received credible information targeting Arugam Bay and urged tourists to avoid the area until further notice.

Responding to the opposition’s criticism that the public was not informed about the threat until the US embassy issued its travel advisory, Herath said, “We did not inform the public until the information could be verified.” “Some information has been revealed that there may be potential threats to the safety of the tourists who visited Sri Lanka,” Herath was quoted as saying by local media.

“Intelligence agencies received information about it. Upon receiving that information, we immediately took action,” he added.

He said the government had taken swift action to provide security at all coastal areas and tourism sites after receiving the information.

Herath said adequate measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of all tourists.

He said US Ambassador Julie Chung had informed the government of the travel advisory on the Arugam Bay security situation.

The US warned its citizens to avoid the popular tourists’ resort on the eastern coast until further notice. Security has been beefed up in the region.

Meanwhile, the police said that the security net has been extended to the southern coast and the southeastern resort areas.

Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority groups have condemned the wars in Gaza and Lebanon by holding continuous anti-Israel protests.

Several posts have appeared on social media calling for a boycott of Israeli businesses on the east coast.

The police vowed to accord protection to all foreign nationals. A hotline has been set up for tourists to alert authorities of any suspicious activities.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gujarat ATS arrests four ISIS terrorists, at Ahmedabad airport in Ahmedabad on Monday. All four accused are Sri Lankan nationals.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Sri Lanka has arrested the suspected handler of four of its nationals who were arrested at Ahmedabad airport in India for their alleged links with the banned Islamic State (ISIS) outfit.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the island nation arrested 46-year-old Pushparaja Osman on Friday in Colombo.

Sri Lanka Police recently announced a cash award of Rs. 2 million for any credible information on his whereabouts. Police had issued a wanted notice and a video of him seeking information from the public.

The CID arrested him and he was believed to have made telephone contact with the four people arrested at the Ahmedabad airport, the police said.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad arrested four Sri Lankans with links to ISIS at the airport in Ahmedabad. The four men took an Indigo flight from Colombo to Chennai on May 19.

Commenting on the investigations so far, police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa said Sri Lanka Police were still unable to verify that the four are linked to the terror outfit. “If they had promoted the ISIS ideology in Sri Lanka, it is yet to be established,” he said.

Last month, the Sri Lankan authorities launched a high-powered operation to investigate the four Sri Lankans arrested in Gujarat.

The authorities say they would take no chances with possible ISIS activities on the island nation after the 2019 Easter Sunday attack that killed over 270 people.

The investigations focused on whether the local jihadi group, which carried out the attack, was having links with ISIS at the time.

Among the arrested individuals in Gujarat, Mohammed Nusrat is a businessman involved in importing telecommunication devices and electrical equipment from countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Dubai.

Nusrat operated within Colombo where he sold these imported goods.

Mohammad Nafran, 27, who was also arrested, has been identified as the son of the first wife of Niyas Naufer aka ‘Potta Naufer’, the notorious underworld criminal who was sentenced to death for the killing of High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya.

The other two Sri Lankans are 35-year-old Mohammad Faris and 43-year-old Mohammad Rashdeen, both from Colombo.

Faris had worked as a cart puller in Pettah and was arrested by the Colombo Crimes Division on March 11, 2023, and November 1 of the same year.

On May 21, his close associate Hameed Amir was arrested by the Terrorist Investigations Division. Mr. Faris left for India on May 19.

The other suspect is Mohammad Rashdeen, a driver. Security forces suspect that he is linked to trafficking crystal meth or ICE.

On September 16, 2022, Rashdeen was arrested and later released on bail.

Colombo:

A ‘wanted’ handler of four Sri Lankan ISIS terrorists, who were taken into custody in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, was arrested by Lankan Police Intelligence on Friday.

The 46-year-old terror suspect, Osman Pushparaja Gerard, was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Colombo, Sri Lanka Police Media Spokesman said.

After the arrests of four suspects by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) for having links with terrorist outfit ISIS, Sri Lanka launched a high-level investigation with the participation of two main intelligence branches of the police, the CID and the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) and other military intelligence services.

In the hunt for Osman or the coordinator of four ISIS suspects, earlier Sri Lanka Police offered a cash reward of Sri Lankan rupees two million to any informant.

Sri Lanka Police had so far arrested six suspects, including the handler who was linked with the four arrested in India.

Among those others arrested in Sri Lanka are: a suspect who had prepared a flag with an ISIS logo before which the suspects had taken an oath, two other oath takers who originally planned to go to India but later refused (making two newcomers to join the four arrested at Ahmadabad) and another suspect who handled the financial transactions.

On May 19, the ATS had arrested four terror suspects who had arrived on an Indigo flight from Colombo to Chennai.

Among the arrested individuals, Mohammed Nusrat, 35, who was involved in selling imported telecommunication devices and electrical equipment from Singapore, Malaysia, and Dubai had a criminal history.

In September 2020 he had been arrested in Colombo for keeping heroin in his possession while the other suspect 27-year-old Mohammad Nafran, had been running a business of importing clothing material and chocolates from India and Dubai.

In 2017, Nafran was arrested by the Sri Lanka Police under the National Gem and Jewellery Authority Act.

He was also the son of Mohamed Niyas Naufer alias ‘Potta Naufer’, a notorious underworld drug-lord who was sentenced to death for the killing of a High Court judge in Colombo.

The other two suspects are Mohammad Faris, 35, and Mohammad Rashdeen, 43, both from Colombo who had made their first visit to India.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)