Court further remands 4 returnees from Fiji

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 September 2009, 11:09 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate Nishantha Hapuarachchi Tuesday ordered further remand till September 22 for three Tamils and a Sinhalese who were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials at the Katunayake International Airport on their return from Fiji islands, rejecting their bail applications. CID told court said that the suspects had immigrated to the Fiji Islands for employment and the Fiji Islands authority had deported them.

The four returnees from Fiji are Sivagurunathan Chandrasekaran of Colombo, Palanisamy Vinothan from Nawalapitiya, Puspaiyah Vasu from Trincomalee and Balawaduge Sampath Samanjith, legal sources said. The fourth suspect is a Sinhalese and the others are Tamils.

CID had apprehended them at the Katunayake airport for alleged connections with the LTTE.

CID further submitted that a letter regarding these suspects is to be received from the Fiji Islands authority and moved court not to grant bail to the suspects as investigations are continuing.

The suspects were detained for ninety days following Defence Secretary’s detention order.

Counsel Paranthaka Silva, who appeared on behalf of the suspects, accused the CID for choosing to expedite investigation to conclude the cases of Daya Master and George Master while delaying investigations on these types of minor charges on suspects.

“Daya Master and George Master could be named as high ranking LTTE officers but the CID moved to grant bail. Therefore, we are requesting to grant bail on these suspects who even do not have clear charges to prove their link with LTTE”, the counsel added.