Colombo, December 2 (newsin.asia): A highly placed source said on Monday that “as a precautionary measure”, the Sri Lankan government has alerted Colombo airport about the possibility of the Swiss embassy employee’s fleeing the country to avoid being questioned by the police on her alleged “abduction” and “detention for two hours” by an unidentified bunch of people here late last month.
While the Swiss embassy asked for permission to use an air ambulance to fly her out to Switzerland, the Lankan government said that the police need to interview her to get to the bottom of the alleged abduction and detention.
Earlier, Nishantha de Silva, an officer of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) who feared questioning by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government for his alleged bias in investigating opposition leaders, military personnel and others connected with the then opposition, led the country with his family allegedly with the connivance of the Swiss embassy.
Following Nishantha de Siva’s escapade, government reportedly gave the airport an alert about the possibility of more than 700 officers fleeing the country.
Coming back to the follow up to the abduction, the Swiss embassy has kept saying that the said Sri Lankan female employee is too traumatised to meet the police and even give a statement. She has not even lodged a complaint with the police regarding the alleged “abduction” and “detention” leaving it to the Swiss embassy to take up the issue with the Lankan government.
The Swiss Ambassador had met Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to make an oral submission seeking an impartial and speedy investigation. The embassy had also submitted a demarche to the Lankan Foreign Ministry on the matter.
But when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sleuths went to the embassy to get more details and met the Ambassador, they were stonewalled. They met with a firm “no” on the plea that they had no clue. They also refused to give them access to the “abducted” person or to CCTV evidence.
On Sunday, the Lankan Foreign Minister issued a press release saying that the investigations carried out so far had revealed that the available witness accounts and technical intelligence got by looking into phone call records were at variance with the account given by the Swiss embassy. The government then asked for permission for the CID to meet the alleged victim. Till the afternoon of Monday, the Swiss embassy had not responded to the request the highly placed source said.
