Ex-TID head Nalaka de Silva says his own arrest buckled their plan to catch Zahran

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Former head of the TID Nalaka de Silva, on Friday, informed the  Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks that his arrest had made it impossible for the TID to arrest National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) leader, Zahran Hashim before the Easter Sunday attacks. He said the TID was following Zahran according to a plan.

Silva said that following his arrest the TID officers who were investigating Zahran had no proper leadership.

Silva said he had received information that Zahran had gone abroad in 2018, but the had not left the country.

Silva said that the TID had kept tabs on extremists like Zahran Hashim and Abdul Latif Jameel Mohammed, who blew himself up the Dehiwala Tropical Inn lodge and reported their activities on a weekly basis to the former IGP Pujith Jayasundara.

Besides the weekly reports, the IGP had been kept informed of TID investigations, Silva said.

Earlier Silva said that a senior official of State Intelligence Service (SIS) and former IGP Pujith Jayasundara had asked them not to investigate a Mohammad Nilabdeen Mohammad Rimzan, a Sri Lankan who had returned after fighting for ISIS in 2018, he said.

Silva said that TID had picked up Nilabdeen Rimzan at the airport and asked him to come to the TID after initial questioning. However Deputy Director of SIS, Sampath Kumara had asked Silva not to pursue the investigation as SIS is conducting a separate investigation.

“Kumara asked me not to disturb Rimzan. I said we needed to question Rimzan because TID wanted to know why he had returned. It was the time when ISIS was losing and sending its  foreign fighters home. I then asked him to talk to the IGP and make a formal request,” he said. Subsequently a letter was sent by the IGP to then Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order, Pathmasiri Jayamanne on 14 March 2018