The terrorist network related to the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks was the subject of covert operations involving military intelligence officers, according to the Sri Lankan government.
Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, the acting defence minister, claimed in a speech to Parliament on Thursday (Sept. 21) that the terrorist known as “Sonic Sonic” who was connected to the assaults was actually an undercover intelligence agent.
“This intelligence agent successfully broke into the terrorist network and gleaned crucial data for the government. He pretended to be a terrorist. One should behave in that way with terrorists and not pretend to be a police officer, he stated.
In order to gather intelligence about potential future attacks, the acting minister Tennakoon added that numerous additional undercover operations with officers infiltrating terrorist networks will need to be carried out.
There is no alternative. This must be understood by Parliament. He warned the opposition for failing to comprehend the nature of undercover operations and pleaded with the House to avoid making this political.
The country was determined to punish military intelligence officials for their actions, therefore acting minister Tennakoon questioned how they could be asked to participate in such missions in the future.
The name “Adu Hindh” was also revealed by the acting defence minister, who said that it was connected to the online networks that Easter attack planner Zaharan and his network used for their operations.
“Zaharan and his network conducted their business via online channels. This ‘Adu Hindh’ is an alias that was utilised by a global intelligence organisation to contact this terrorist group and gather information, he added.
The information surfaced as a result of recent inquiries in Parliament into the Easter attack-related code names “Sonic Sonic” and “Adu Hindh.”
