The Sri Lankan Government froze accounts of 41 people linked to the Easter Sunday suicide attacks, which took the lives of close to 260 people across the island country. The 41 people are said to have links to the extremist Islam group, National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ) which was behind the bombings.
Police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara said right now, the suspects are in the custody of the Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID.)
“The accounts have a total amount of Rs. 134 million (USD 759,335) which was in addition to Rs. 14 million (USD 79,333) seized from the possession of the suspects at the time of their arrest. Meanwhile, the CID also launched an investigation into assets worth Rs. 7 billion (USD 30 million) belonging to the suspects,” Gunasekara said while announcing the statement.
While the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attacks, the Sri Lankan Government thinks the local terrorist group, NTJ was involved.
Looking at the state of affairs in Sri Lanka, President Maithripala Sirisena extended the state of emergency for a month more. Initially declared on the 23rd of April, the emergency period was supposed to last until the situation calmed down. With the continued period of emergency, the police can arrest and detain suspects without an order or giving them a hearing in court.
The bombings across the three churches and three luxury hotels were destroyed by 9 suicide bombers on Easter Sunday. Out of the 9 bombers, 8 were men and one was a woman.
Stay tuned for more updates.
