COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Police on Monday announced a cash reward of Rs two million to anyone providing information on the alleged coordinator who sent four suspected IS terrorists to India.
The 46-year-old handler named Osman Pushparaja Gerard is alleged to have coordinated with the four terror suspects, all natives of the island nation.
"The mastermind must have already changed his appearance, ” the police stated while releasing several photos of the suspect.
Lankan Police Chief also announced that a joint team comprising two special investigating units will lead the probe into these terror suspects’ possible involvement in the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakone said that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) will be part of a special committee to investigate four Lankan terror suspects arrested by the Gujarat ATS at the Ahmedabad airport on May 19.
"India would deal with them according to their law. Sri Lanka would investigate if they have been party to any acts of terrorism, or aided and abetted any group while being in Sri Lanka, and will deal with them according to our law, ” Sri Lanka's Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told media on Monday.
According to the investigations done so far, one of the four suspects, Mohamed Nusrat (35) was involved in the business of importing phone and electrical equipment from Dubai, Malaysia and Singapore and selling in Colombo.
Living in the heart of Colombo, he had a criminal record and was arrested in September 2020 for heroin trafficking.
Another suspect, Mohamed Nafran (27) is the son of a convicted drug lord, Mohamed Naufer who was also convicted for killing a High Court judge. Nafran, who had been travelling to India and Dubai since turning 16, has been involved in businesses of importing clothes and chocolates. In 2017, he was arrested under the Gem and Jewellery Act in Sri Lanka.
The other two suspects, it is believed, have left the Lankan shores for the first time.
All four arrived in an Indigo flight out of Colombo to Chennai before being arrested by Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) for having links with the banned terror outfit Islamic State.
They were earlier also connected to the banned Sri Lankan radical militant outfit, National Thowheeth Jamath (NJT) and allegedly joined IS after getting in touch with a Pakistani handler.