Former Navy Chief Wasantha Karannagoda’s passport was impounded by the Colombo Fort Magistrate last Friday (22), after the CID named him as the 14th suspect in the high profile abduction and murder of 11 young men in 2008-2009 and told Court that the Admiral was a flight risk.
The CID told Court that the Attorney General was planning to indict Karannagoda and 13 others on a slew of charges, including the conspiracy to murder.
Notices delivered to two addresses linked to the former Navy Chief had been returned, OIC of the CID’s Gang Robberies Branch IP Nishantha Silva told the Fort Magistrate, raising suspicion that the Admiral and two other suspects who were also absconding summons to the CID could try to flee the country.
The Attorney General has advised the CID to produce the former Navy Commander in court, on several charges under the Penal Code, including aiding and abetting the abduction of the 11 boys and concealing information about the offences.
Investigations had revealed that Admiral Karannagoda knew about the abduction racket by naval personnel serving under his command, but had chosen to take no action, the CID said.
IP Nishantha Silva presented evidence in court that his investigations had revealed that “if then Commander Karannagoda had conducted matters the way he should have at the very outset of obtaining this information, the lives of the abducted boys might have been spared.”
The CID told Court that an internal Navy intelligence probe had uncovered the abduction racket, and that the young men were being detained in Trincomalee.
The findings had been communicated to Karannagoda, who did nothing to act against the perpetrators, the CID B report to court noted.
If arrested, Karannagoda will become the second admiral to be docked in the navy abductions case. In December 2018, the country’s highest ranking military officer, Chief of Defence Staff Ravindra Wijeguneratne was remanded and enlarged on bail for allegedly harbouring one of the key suspects wanted in connection with the abductions.
Ironically it was Karannagoda who made the initial police complaint about his Personal Security Officer Sampath Moonesinghe, now named as the first suspect in the case. Karannagoda told the police that Moonesinghe was suspected of terrorism related activity, but once the case was handed over to the CID, the abduction racket was exposed and several high ranking naval officials were implicated in the alleged crimes.