Home Affairs Minister Joseph Michael Perera says that three soldiers arrested by the Mirihana police on Monday evening with a firearm in their possession have confessed to police that the weapon had been given to them by former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
The Minister said so while addressing a press conference in Colombo yesterday.
He said the police investigations had found that the white van used by the suspect soldiers had once belonged to the LTTE.
The van had not been registered and the soldiers had used it with a false number plate.
The Minister said that an investigation was being conducted by the army besides separate probe by the Mirihana police.
Responding to a query by a journalist how and why the suspect soldiers had been enlarged on bail, the minister said that the decision to grant bail had been a matter decided by the courts.
Meanwhile, DIG Nugegoda Kapila Jayasekera said that the white van had been searched by his men because of the manner in which it had been driven. “The van was speeding and the policemen on traffic duty stopped,” the DIG said.
By Norman Palihawadane and Shiran Ranasinghe
IS