Public Security Minister, Rear Admiral (Rtd.) Sarath Weerasekera in a special statement to Parliament on March 10, 2021 said the investigators have uncovered by now how the Easter Sunday terror attacks were conceived, the purpose of the attack, the masterminds behind it, who funded it and the foreign and local links associated with it.
Minister Weerasekera told the House of the Government’s intended actions to ensure maximum punishment to the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday carnage and the masterminds behind it.
He said it was his duty as the Minister in charge of Public Security to keep the House updated on the investigations by the Law enforcement units and the findings of the Presidential Commission.
Excerpts of the speech
Police have arrested 676 persons in connection with the terror attacks, of them 202 are currently in remand custody, 66 have been detained for questioning and 408 were released on bail, yet investigations on them continuing.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena has taken action to ban three extremist organizations including the National Thowheed Jamath and Jamaate Millet Ibrahim, after the attack.
On May 22 - The Parliament Select Committee was appointed to report on the attack, then a Sectoral Oversight Committee
on National Security was appointed, later on September 21, 2019 a special presidential commission was appointed to probe the terror attacks and make recommendations to the President with the objective of bringing the culprits to book.
Yet, the investigations so far have revealed that, unfortunately, nothing was done to prevent the disaster and save lives when the attack could have been averted easily.
Telltale signs
A sequence of events before the Easter Sunday attack shed ample light on what was going to happen, if only they were given enough attention. But the intelligence wings of the law enforcement institutions were made completely inactive and the officers were demoralised. The sequence of events which shed light to the impending calamity were:
1. The house of a member of the ‘National Front on Good Governance’ came under a bomb attack on February6, 2018
2. Six days later the Kathankudi branch of the National Front on good Governance came under a bomb attack
3. Six months later Saharan’s brother Rilwan was injured in an explosion in Batticaloa while testing explosives. A proper investigation was not initiated on the Nuwara Eliya training camp although a site visit was made.
4. Two weeks later two police officers were killed in Vavunathivu.
5. A month later two Buddha statues in Mawanella were vandalised.
6. Three weeks from that, a huge stock of explosives were discovered in Wanathawilluwa.
7. Two months later on March 8, 2019, a CID informant Thaslim, was shot.
8. Five weeks later on April 16, 2019, a dry-run of the suicide attack was carried out by the bombers in Thalankudah by exploding motor bikes.
The Easter Sunday attack was carried out exactly five days later. The then government’s tepid attitude towards national security, lack of action by relevant units including the CID, Terrorism Investigation Division to follow up on intelligence reports and lack of coordination as well as sharing of intelligence between agencies had been a major cause that led to these horrific series of explosions by terrorists. As a result the above telltale signs had gone unnoticed.
The current government restored the dignity of the intelligence arms of the law enforcement agencies while making them independent of any political interference.
Arrests
Soon after assuming office the present Government arrested 99 people suspected of having direct and indirect links with the bombers, in Sri Lanka and further 35 Sri Lankans were arrested in overseas destinations. They are currently being investigated.
The Government has coordinated with foreign intelligence agencies in five countries and successfully repatriated 50 suspects in connection with the attack. Four more are to be brought down once the court cases in their respective countries are finalised. These suspects have been spreading extremism in their host countries and funding similar activities back in Sri Lanka.
They will be classified according to the crimes committed and court cases are to be filed accordingly. A proper mechanism has been devised to maintain regular links between State Intelligence Service (SIS) and foreign intelligence services in future.
The domestic intelligence services uncovered a women’s wing of suicide bombers trained under Saharan in early 2020. Seventeen such women have given an oath before Saharan. Of them five have died, three are in prison and seven are in remand custody. Investigations are continuing to arrest the two who are still at large.
Swords
A Sri Lankan company had imported 1,440 swords to the country in 2015. In 2018, under the direction of Ibrahim brothers of Dematagoda 300 of those swords have been distributed among men in Slave Island, Kattankudy and Beruwala.
In addition, 27 more swords have been manufactured at the Negombo and Kurunegala factories. After a lengthy investigation 35 persons in connection with this have been arrested and against seven cases have been filed in Court. The investigators are trying to find out to whom these swords were sold by the company since 2015.
In addition to the three organisations already banned, leaders of One Umma, Hizbut Thahrir, Mujahideen Allah and Super-Muslim have been arrested.
Intelligence sleuths have also uncovered eight training centres operated by Saharan in Medawachchiya, Malwana, Lewella, Hambantota, Nuwara Eliya and Hingula. The suspects who took part in these training camps with the aim of creating an Islamic territory have now been arrested.
Ibrahim brothers
Since 2018, Saharan’s entire project was funded and facilitated by the Dematagoda Ibrahim brothers who finally became human bombs themselves on Easter Sunday. They have pumped in Rs.50 million from 2018 to 2019 April.
In addition, they have provided Rs.4.5 million, to the father of a Sri Lankan named Nilam who died while training as an ISIS member in Syria. The funds were meant to be distributed among Sri Lankans training in Syria. These funds are now with the TID investigators.
Ibrahim Ilham, one of the Dematagoda brothers had provided Rs.37 million from his business earnings to Saharan’s brother Rilwan to plot the Easter Sunday terror attacks. Rs.5 million of these funds were recovered from a house in Sainthamaruthu, five days after the attack.
Save the Pearl
In 2015, an NGO called Save the Pearl was formed. Ibrahim brothers and Jameel who were involved in the terror attacks and Jameel’s brother who is now under arrest, have been members of this NGO.
In schools run by this organisation small children were taught extremist views. Saharan has lectured students in these schools.
This organisation, through Saharan, has also provided legal support to the suspect arrested in connection with vandalising the Buddha statues in Mawanella in 2018.
Considering the masterminds behind the attack and how it was planned initially, it is important to find out the brains behind the attack, those who provided logistical support, those who are directly and indirectly involved and the external links. This is important to prevent future attacks as well as to bring the culprits to book.
I would like to table the following findings for this purpose. On June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamic state in Iraq and Syria. In January 2015, 37 Sri Lankans have escaped in groups to Syria to work for the ISIS.
The locals who swore allegiance to the Islamic state were rallying round an organisation called Jamaate Millat Ibrahim (JMI).
The intelligence services have deployed informants to report back on the team that went to Syria, how they travelled to that country, their funding sources, and about the JMI organisation.
Security Council
That information was shared during Security Council meetings and also shared with other relevant officials both in writing and orally.
During these submissions the officials were briefed on the threats posed by these developments to the country and what counter strategies were needed to be adopted by relevant departments and Ministries. The report of the Presidential Commission on Easter Sunday attacks have clearly mentioned about these briefings.
When an individual transforms himself into a terrorist based on religious ideologies, he will first go through a phase of fundamentalism and religious extremism before being drifted towards violence and terrorism.
Islamic State
The Easter Sunday terrorists were inspired by the Islamic State ideology and some of the followers were still in different stages of this evolutionary process, investigations so far on these men have revealed.
Saharan who was driven by the Islamic State ideology after Baghdadi’s announcement in 2014, had transformed himself from a strict fundamentalist to a religious extremist by 2015.
Since early 2017, he had moved from religious extremism to violence. An assault on a group of different opinion holders at Aliyar junction in Kattankudi has been recorded as the first incident of violence by Saharan.
It is important to examine about his associates and organisations he was involved in during the period of this transformation.
Naufer and Saharan
Therefore, investigators inquired about the close association Saharan had with a man named Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer who is now under detention.
He had returned to Sri Lanka after spending years in Qatar. Investigations have found this man had made a significant contribution to indoctrinate Saharan and make him a follower of Baghdadi’s ideology.
It has also been revealed
that this man was constantly in touch with Saharan and had ideologically guided him until the Easter Sunday attacks.
Thus, Naufer has been identified as the main fundamentalist and one of the key persons behind Saharan’s transformation.
Before the Easter Sunday terror attacks, Saharan had pledged allegiance to Baghdadi and vowed the attack was in the name of Islamic State (Caliphate).
A video was issued in Colombo before the men detonated themselves.
Hideout
On April 26, 2019, when the security forces surrounded their hideout in Sainthamaruthu, they released a video which showed the people at the hideout chanting that they will sacrifice their lives for the IS and the ideology they believed in, before detonating a bomb.
This shows that Naufer had played a crucial role to nurture Saharan and his followers to become fanatics. The former Head of the Sri Lanka Jamaat e Islami HajjalIkbath Islam had also been a follower of Caliphate and had been conscripting members into their ring. He had also closely associated with the suicide bombers.
Maldivian link
During this time, four Maldivian religious extremists were introduced to Saharan by Lukeman Thalib and his son Dukeman Thalib Ahmed who were Australian citizens hailing from Sri Lanka.
It has been found that since 2016, the four Maldivian terrorists had arrived here and met the Easter Sunday suicide bombers as well as some others currently in SL custody in connection with the terror attacks, from time to time.
The father and son duo had visited Sri Lanka to facilitate their meetings, according to the Counter Terrorism and Investigation Division and State Intelligence Service. Lukeman Thalib has been arrested in Qatar, Qatari state intelligence units reported.
Easter Sunday attacks
The background for the Easter Sunday attacks was set as follows.
Naufer and a few Maulavis have nurtured the ideology of IS leader Baghdadi. He had promoted those fundamentalist ideologies here and youth were conscripted.
Setting up of organisations such as, ‘Save the Pearl’ to address legal issues that could arise due to their activities.
Funds for the Easter Sunday attack and other resources were supplied by Ilham and Inshaf brothers, and overseas extremist organisations and IS groups in the Middle East.
Under Saharan’s leadership the attacks were planned, trained and carried out by Rilwan Hasthun Milhan and Sadiq. Fairoos and Fazrool have made videos to propagate IS ideology and uploaded them.
The ring members have communicated with each other via whatsapp and viber. To gather intelligence on these communications, Sri Lankan law enforcement agencies have collaborated with foreign intelligence units.
In addition, action is being taken by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa via the Cabinet of Ministers to implement the recommendations of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security of Parliament.
It has been emphsised, Madrasas need to be regulated, children of all ethnicities between 5 - 16 must attend schools where state education policy is implemented. There are Madrasa schools which have been functioning for many years peacefully under proper standards.
Eleven organisations which have helped to lay the background for the attacks directly and indirectly have been identified and the Government will take action to ban them in the near future.
Extremist teachings in text books
Action has already been taken to correct state text books which included teachings of Islamic fundamentalism and promoted enmity towards other faiths.
It has been observed from Grades 1 to 13, in teacher guides and student textbooks on Islamic religion, Wahhabi and Salafi fundamental ideas have been subtly included.
The Government has identified the present and future threats posed by extremism and taken several measures to counter them. As one of the steps, the Government will ban wearing the Burka in public places in the near future.
The Muslim Marriage and Divorce law affecting children and women will be brought under the common law. A proper rehabilitation process is to be introduced for youth who have been misguided by religious extremism, etc.
Justice
Every single person directly and indirectly linked to the Easter Sunday terror attacks will soon be brought to justice and they will face severe punishment. It has been uncovered by now how the attacks were conceived, the purpose of the attack, who were the masterminds, who funded it and the foreign and local links associated with it.
Amid the global pandemic, the Ministries of Defence and Public Security, the Sri Lanka Police, the Army, State Intelligence Service, Military Intelligence and other intelligence services are working hard to identify the local and foreign individuals connected to the attacks and prevent a recurrence of such a calamity.
There are political forces, trying to mislead the masses, and block the truth from coming out. We will take legal action against such persons who try to interfere in investigations.
We must denounce religious extremism and not a particular religion. All institutions and organisations inspired by the Salafi-Wahhabi doctrine of Al-Wala Wal-Bara which propagate enmity towards people of other faith will be banned in Sri Lanka soon.
War heroes
Peaceful Muslims who love this country are helping us in the investigations. I acknowledge their assistance with honour.
We still remember with gratitude the services of Colonel Aslam Fazly Laphir, Colonel Tuan Nizam Muthaliff and Colonel Tuan Rizly Meedin of the Sri Lanka Army.
Plans are afoot to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter attacks. Every single person who had a hand in the terror attacks, as exposed in investigations, will be brought to book.
Translated by Manjula Fernando