Two Qatar deportees arrested for spreading extremist ideologies

Two more persons have been arrested for propagating Wahhabism and extremist ideologies through social media, says the Police Spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana.

Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) had made the arrest on Friday (April 02).

The suspects, aged 28 and 29 years, were identified as residents of Kattankudy area in Batticaloa.

The duo had been deported from Qatar along with four other individuals on the 21st of November 2020. The TID arrested the other four suspects on Thursday (April 01).

According to the police spokesperson, the suspects in question, while they were residing in Qatar, had propagated Wahhabism and extremist ideologies through a WhatsApp group named ‘One Ummah’.

They had used the said social media group to establish a dogma that is contrary to that of the traditional Sri Lankan Muslims, DIG Rohana said further.

It was also revealed that the six suspects in question were involved in releasing the pledge-taking video of Zahran Hashim and other suicide bombers to the internet shortly after the Easter Sunday terror arracks.

The police spokesperson added that the accused, who studied the ideology of the Islamic State (IS), had been incarcerated in Qatar prior to deportation.

The two suspects who were arrested on Friday are expected to be detained by TID under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). All six suspects who were deported from Qatar are now under the custody of the TID, the police spokesperson said further.