Attempt on Defence Secretary's life

Probe takes dramatic turn

by Ranga Jayasuriya and Prasanna Fonseka

Investigators probing the suicide attack on the Defence Secretary last week traced a phone call originated from Defence Ministry, which was suspected to have tipped off the suicide bomber of the movements of the Defence Secretary.

The investigators have traced a phone call taken from the Defence Ministry to an address in Vavuniya minutes before the suicide blast.

Within minutes, a person has called the suicide bomber from the same number in Vavuniya. "The number in Vavuniya could have been of the handler of the suicide bomber," said an investigator. It is suspected that the handler, having being tipped off the movements of the Defence Secretary, directed the suicide attacker to target the convoy of the Defence Secretary.

The Defence Secretary narrowly escaped the attack, but two soldiers of his entourage were killed.

The suicide Three Wheeler driver disguised himself as a Muslim to make it easier to travel through the security checkpoints in the city. His National Identity Card (NIC) identified him as Mohammed Latheef Mohammed Fareed of Hijra Pura, Kurunegala.

The investigators, however, found that his address is fictional. There is no Hijra Pura in Kurunegala, though there is one identified as Hijra Para (Hijra Road).

The NIC is issued based on the inaccurate personal details by the Special Unit of the Department of the Registration of Persons.

The Former chief of the Department of the Registration of Persons, Vijaya Ranasinghe was arrested following the exposure of the discrepancies of issuing the NIC to the suicide bomber. The special unit of issuing NICs directly came under the authority of Mr Vijaya Ranasinghe.