S. E. Asian-based maritime security firms move to Lanka

by Ranil Wijayapala

Dismissing speculation that foreign companies would handle the task undertaken by the Sri Lanka Navy from Avant Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd, Defence Secretary, Karunasena Hettiarachchi told the Sunday Observer there was no Government decision to hand over operations to any other party.

"There is no change in the Government's decision that the Sri Lanka Navy and Rakna Arakshaka Lanka should handle operations, earlier handled by Avant Garde Maritime Sea Marshalling Operations," he said.

Many news reports alleged the Government had handed over weapon-handling operations undertaken by the Navy to a Singapore-based company.

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne said many Singapore and Malaysia based maritime security firms were now shifting operations to Sri Lanka as they had confidence in the Sri Lanka Navy rather than a private company, as these companies are authorised to deal only with state authorities when handling weapons", he added.

With these changes, the present 54 maritime security firms will increase, as operations based in Singapore and Malaysia were costly as they have to traverse a long way, passing high risk areas for sea marshals and to disembark them.

The Government decided to hand over operations of Avant Garde to the Navy, on the basis that the Navy was the sole authority to handle weapons coming in and out of the country.