Mystery surrounds the murder of three Sri Lankan men in Kuala Lumpur on September 22 with the Foreign Ministry in Colombo and the police saying that they are yet to receive more details from their counterparts in that country.
The Sri Lankan mission in Kuala Lumpur has provided assistance to the police and other local authorities in this connection while the police in Colombo are awaiting a response from the International Police or INTERPOL to proceed with investigations, according to officials. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Priyanga Wickramasinghe told the Sunday Observer, “Our mission in Kuala Lumpur has been in constant touch with the Malaysian authorities since the case was reported and more efforts will be made through diplomatic channels to ascertain the true cause of the deaths which has already been listed as homicides by the Malaysian police”.
“As of now the Malaysian police are treating the incident inside a domestic frame and are yet to make any contact with Colombo through INTERPOL or whatever”, Police Spokesman Senior Superintendent and Attorney-at Law Nihal Thalduwa said. He said that nearly two weeks after the incident had surfaced the local police was only updated through local and foreign media reports and beyond that there has been no information regarding the alleged killings.
The victims were found gagged with their limbs tied and plastic bags secured over their faces that eventually led to fatal suffocation since external injuries were not visibile, SSP Thalduwa said.
One victim was also found to have been stripped naked prior to being put to death which makes the case even more baffling, SSP Thalduwa quoted media reports as saying.
Since then seven persons that include six Sri Lankans and a Pakistani are currently in Malaysian police custody and have been detained on extended dates issued by the local courts. The eighth suspect died while under police custody and a separate internal probe is being carried out towards this end, SSP Thalduwa said.
The bodies were found in the basement of a shop owned by a Sri Lankan couple.
Initial investigations have revealed that among the dead was the teenage son of the married couple.
The motive for the triple murder is not clear but it could be for more than one reason and that is something the Malaysian police will have to find out, he said.
Moreover, it must have taken several persons to kill their victims simply because it would take an enormous effort to complete the job or else the trio may have been drugged or even poisoned prior to their deaths, according to SSP Thalduwa. The final outcome would be known whenthe Malaysian police concludes their findings and investigations.
“For our part, we are ready to provide whatever assistance that is needed by the Malaysian authorities towards this end”, SSP Thalduwa said.
The victims according to a top official at the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLFEB) said the victims were not documented with the Bureau and most probably left the country through a visit visa or an illegal channel.
Senaratha Yapa of the SLFEB told the Sunday Observer that hundreds of Sri Lankans are known to have left the country on visit visas to Malaysia and other South East Asian countries after paying huge sums of money to human traffickers where they later get on to a boat for an illegal crossing to Europe and elsewhere.
