Easter attack: 9 Copper factory employees released on bail

COLOMBO (News 1st) -09 of the 10 Wellampitiya Copper Factory workers who were arrested and remanded over their suspected involvement in preparing bombs for the Easter Sunday Attacks were released on bail today. The court ordered the 10th suspect; Karupiah Rajendran Abdullah to be remanded until the 20th of May. The police informed court today(May 06), that the owner of the Copper factory who carried out a suicide bomb attack had the converted the suspect and married him off to a Muslim woman. Additionally, the police informed the court, following an analysis of the telephone conversations, that the 3rd suspect; Mohamed Lafeer had maintained a close relationship with the Shang-ri La Hotel suicide bomber. Police investigations had revealed that all 10 suspects in question had used 02 to 08 SIM cards. Police added that although the suspects claimed they worked at the Copper factory for a monthly salary of Rs 30,000 the telephone records of the suspects revealed that they mostly, spent their time out of the factory premises gathering data around Colombo and suburbs. The police informed the court the monthly rental for the houses they resided exceeded Rs. 30,000 and requested the court to deny bail for the suspects. When the Colombo Additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage inquired the police "under what act are the suspects to be investigated?'', the police could not come up with a concrete answer and therefore the court ordered the 09 suspects to be released on 02 surety bails of Rs 500,000 each. In addition, the court ordered the suspects to refrain from leaving the country.