Sri Lanka Police says that information has been revealed through their investigations about a second of attacks that was planned, after Easter Sunday bombing that took place last year.
Police Spokesman Jaliya Senaratne addressing a press conference today said that several suspects have been arrested over planning a 2nd attack.
He said that Police was misled to believe that terrorist leader Zahran Hasheem’s team was split before the Easter Sunday Attack.
“In the initial investigations, we were made to believe that Zahran Hashim’s group was split into two due to conflicts among them and it was only one group which was involved in heinous crimes. However, the CID has now got information which reveals that it was a deliberate attempt by them to mislead the intelligence units with regard to the investigations about them” Police Spokesman added.
“According to the ongoing investigations, it has been revealed that these arrested suspects have worked with certain organizations in order to preach Muslim extremism, while misleading the youth by giving wrong interpretations to the religion of Islam”. He said.
Police also denied reports that Lawyer Hijaz Hizbullah was arrested for doing his job as a lawyer in his professional capacity. Police said that investigation had revealed that he had acted illegally.
Police spokesman also confirmed that there is no police inquiry against Former President Maithripala Sirisena over failing to prevent Easter Sunday attacks.