Embassy official arrested over human trafficking to Oman remanded

The third secretary of Sri Lanka Embassy in Oman, E. Kushan who was arrested earlier today in connection with the human trafficking ring, has been placed behind bars on remand until December 13.

He was produced before Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers arrested him upon arriving at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake early this morning.

Following his arrest, the suspect was taken to the Human Trafficking, Smuggling Investigation and Maritime Crime Investigation Division of the CID.

He is also accused of sexually harassing the Sri Lankan women, who were subjected to violence by their employers, staying at the safe house of belonging to the embassy.

The arrest was made based on the investigations conducted on a complaint filed by one of the women victimized by Kushan and a statement obtained from the second secretary of the embassy.

When the case was called today, the defence attorney Chanaka Ranasinghe told the court that his client is not in any way involved in this human trafficking racket.

The accused also pleaded not guilty to the sexual harassment charges levelled against him.

The defence attorney, dismissing the allegations as “baseless”, requested the court to release his client on any bail condition.

However, the investigation officers mentioned that the accused was arrested pursuant to a warrant obtained after informing the court of the charges against him.

Pointing out that a comprehensive, complex probe is underway into taking Sri Lankan women to Oman under tourist visas and trading them for prostitution and subjecting them to harassment, Chief Inspector of Police Sudath Amarasinghe raised objection to releasing the suspect on bail.

He explained that granting bail to the accused can hamper the investigations which are yet to come to a conclusion.

Accordingly, the chief magistrate ordered to remand the embassy officer in question until December 13.

The CID had arrested six suspects in total in connection with the human trafficking ring including two employment agency owners, a translator and two brokers. Five of them except the translator named Asha Dissanayake were remanded after being produced before the Negombo and Colombo magistrate’s courts.