Udayanga Weeratunga escorted to Colombo by CID detectives
Wanted fugitive, Udayanga Weeratunga, former Ambassador to Russia, was escorted to Colombo from Dubai by two Criminal Inve s t i g at i o n Department ( CID) detectives at dawn on Friday and driven f rom the Bandaranaike International Airport ( BIA) straight to the CID headquarters where a statement was recorded from him for well over five hours.
It related to the procurement of MiG- 27 fighter jets for the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in 2006. CID detectives said further statements would be recorded from him.
He was later produced b e fore Colombo For t ’ s Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake on Friday and remanded till tomorrow.
Mr Weeratunga, against whom there was a warrant, had been detained in Dubai in the past several months by the Police there. The intimation came to Sri Lanka Police j u s t d ay s b e f o re last November’s presidential elections to visit the emirate and take charge of him. However, as the local Police were deployed on election duty, action was delayed.
A two- member CID team –
ASP Vijitha Perera and Chief Inspector Weerasinghe – flew to Dubai early this week. They returned together with Mr Weeratunga on SriLankan Airlines flight UL 208 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirat e s a r r iv i n g in Colombo at 4.52 a.m.
However, in Colombo, Police sources claimed that Mr Weeratunga travelled on his own as a passenger from Dubai and was arrested only on arrival. These sources also said that the former Russian envoy had alleged that he faced political victimisation and was not involved in any wrongdoing.