Unravelling the Avant Garde secrets

Floating armoury, violation of international maritime laws raises national security concerns:

by Ranil Wijayapala

Suspended on the instructions of the Attorney General, the resumed investigations on the floating armoury, MV Avant Garde – owned by Avant Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd, and detected by the Sri Lanka Navy on October 5 – off the Galle coast, are unravelling unknown secrets. The key question is: How and why were firearms issued to this maritime security firm by the Defence Ministry-owned security firm, Rakna Arakshaka Lanka (RALL).

- newsfirst.lk

The Sri Lanka Navy, detected this controversial floating armoury off the Galle coast on October 5 at a time when the investigations on Avant Garde – a huge political slogan of the present government to come into power – appeared to distance itself from its previous position.

Yet, the investigations unearthed information that revealed serious discrepancies in statements by both Avant Garde and RALL over the matter leading to fresh investigations.

Following the detection of the vessel, the Sri Lanka Navy filed a complaint with the Galle Police, based on the findings made after boarding the ship for inspection. Soon after, the CID, followed by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Serious Financial Crimes, commenced investigations.

The members of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Serious Financial Crimes boarded the Avant Garde ship at the Galle Harbour on October 28, to conduct preliminary inquiries for its investigations. According to Commission sources, the weapons found on board the ship are under investigation to confirm evidence it received that Avant Garde had obtained weapons from Rakna Arakshaka Lanka.

Investigations

The Galle Magistrate granted permission to the CID to conduct investigations on the Avant Garde floating armoury and subsequently the Commission had obtained permission from the Police to board the ship to investigate the weapons on the ship which they claim belonged to Rakna Arakshaka Lanka.

Prior to the commencement of investigations by the Presidential Commission, the CID on Monday submitted a comprehensive report on the progress of their findings about the floating armoury to the Galle Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura.

The CID is conducting further investigations on the cache of arms found on the vessel, while the Presidential Commission is also conducting inquiries.

However, the point at issue about the floating armoury, which was detected by the Navy, 13 miles off the Galle coast, is the violation of international maritime laws by a Sri Lankan ship with the Lankan flag and the serious concerns it had raised on national security.

Embarrassment

The embarrassment the Government of Sri Lanka would have faced internationally in this instance, because if any other ship engaged in anti piracy operations or maritime patrolling challenged it and a cache of weapons were detected on the ship, while denying the fact that it was carrying arms, has to be seriously taken into consideration by the authorities when conducting investigations.The matter is now under investigation by a three-member committee appointed by the Ministry of Defence parallel to other investigations.

The Sri Lanka Navy in charge of maritime security raises questions as to why it was not informed about the movements of the ship, if it was carrying such a large quantity of weapons and ammunition while on its mission to disembark three sailors. This is not only an issue for the Navy but also an issue about national security.

A cache of 813 weapons sans any guards were found on the vessel and the serial numbers of some of the weapons had been tampered with.

The Sri Lanka Navy dispatched two of its Fast Attack Craft from the Galle Harbour when they found why a ship bound to the Colombo Port was doing in Galle when the Automatic Identification System (AIS) inbuilt on the Radar system indicated that the ship coming from Sudan was heading towards Colombo. What is most alarming for the Sri Lanka Navy was the possibility of unloading weapons into small fishing boats and taking them discretely to land. This definitely raises concerns about the threat to national security, after the elimination of LTTE threats.

The SL Navy was vigilant about the suspicious movements of boats and ships passing in close proximity to Lankan waters and thus apprehending this ship.

The SL Navy was compelled to board the ship as it had denied that it was carrying any weapons on the vessel when the SL Navy contacted the operations room of the ship after failing to contact through channel 15. When the operations room was contacted they said the ship was to disembark three sailors who were on a mission.

What raised suspicions of the Navy was when they heard a foreign accent of the captain who was ostensibly said to be a Sri Lankan by the name of Nanyakkara. It was after the Navy boarded the vessel that they found the captain as a Ukranian national.

Security concerns

The other factor raising serious security concerns was as to why the Malship company, the shipping agent of the Sri Lankan registered ship, had given strict instructions to the crew not to respond to any communication by the Sri Lanka Navy and to keep 12 miles off the coast. This has been confirmed by SL Navy deciphering email communication the ship had with the shipping company. If the ship was engaged in a genuine mission why they were instructed not to communicate with the Navy is a question that is being raised by the authorities investigating into the floating armoury.

The ship has also violated basic maritime laws by switching off the Global Positioning System(GPS) of the ship which can backtrack they had taken throughout its journey. Switching off the GPS system of the ship is considered a serious violation of maritime law. This was intended to keep its route a secret.

It has also been revealed that though the ship was carrying weapons, it had not informed any of the countries it passed through which is also a serious offence under international maritime law.

Counter piracy operations

The ship had not informed the Maldives and also the fleet of ships deployed by NATO on counter piracy operations and the operation Atlanta by the European Union, Task Force 151 and Task Force 152 the multinational coalition Task Force engaged in counter-piracy operations and the Indian Navy and the Chinese Navy engaged in individual patrolling in the Indian Ocean about its mission.

Above all it had not informed the country to which they were heading and to whom the weapons belonged. The crew informed the Navy, once the weapons were found that they belonged to Rakna Arakshaka Lanka, a security firm owned by the Defence Ministry.

If the ship had followed correct procedure permission must be obtained from the Government of Sri Lanka, the country of the next port of call prior to the departure from Sudan. Suspicions have been raised about its movement as it kept its mission a secret. If in self defence any of these countries challenged it under article 51 of the UN Charter, the Sri Lankan government would be embarrassed, because the ship carried the Sri Lankan flag and was registered in Sri Lanka. If there are questions about the Sri Lanka Navy boarding a ship outside Sri Lankan territory - 13 miles off the coast, and conducted a search on the ship, it must be remembered that it was the Sri Lanka Navy which destroyed 10 floating LTTE armouries of the LTTE, thousands of miles away from Sri Lankan territory, as they posed a threat to national security.

It is up to the investigators to reveal the true facts behinds the ship’s mission to Sri Lanka and to bring them before Court if international maritime laws have been violated, enabling the Court to punish them accordingly.