April 21st Attacks: Fmr. Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) says he did not receive a report on terrorists using foreign sim cards

Colombo | News 1st: Today at the PCoI probing April 21, 2019, Attacks it was revealed that, although an intelligence report with regard to use of foreign sim cards by the suicide bombers to exchange messages had been received to the office of Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) before the terror attacks, the particular report had not handed been over to former CNI Sisira Mendis. Responding to a question posed by a Commissioner, former CNI Sisira Mendis said that he remembers receiving an intelligence report pertaining to the use of sim cards from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Nepal to send messages by suicide bombers. "There was a report with regard to the following intelligence on using foreign sim cards by the suicide bombers but it was not handed over to me," he said. When Commissioners questioned the witness with regard to a solution to prevent issues among security and intelligence institutions, Mendis said the relevant authorities should form a proper mechanism at intelligence services to develop and share the intelligence reports among investigation units. Mendis further said that although former SIS Director SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena had extensive discussions about Islamic extremism and Zahran's practices at the meetings, the findings of the SIS with regard to the following issue were limited. When Commissioners questioned about using a person who had been issued an arrest warrant as an informant of a particular investigation unit, the witness said that the investigation units could not use a person who was supposed to arrest as an informant without executing the particular arrest warrant. Earlier it was revealed to the Commission, the Criminal Investigation Department had used Army Mohideen, a member of National Thowheed Jamaath who had been issued an arrest warrant, as an informant of the CID. Sisira Mendis also said that he had not received any written document with regard to arrest warrants obtained by the Terrorism Investigation Division on Zaharan Hashim and his associates.