Galle Chief Magistrate A Nishantha Peiris remanded the Operations Manager of the Vessel MV Avant Garde until May 3, when he was produced before him on Tuesday by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) .
The remanded Operations Manager Millaniyage Sumudu Nilupul who is an ex-major of the Sri Lanka Army, had on April 13, submitted an application for anticipatory bail to the Magistrate's Court, citing the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Attorney General as respondents.
However, the Magistrate on April 23, rejected the application in consideration of the preliminary objections raised by the prosecution and subsequently he was arrested by the CID.
The ship MV Avant Garde was seized by the Sri Lanka Navy on October 13, 2015, for allegedly keeping a firearm depository on board and handed it over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for subsequent investigations.
On production of the suspect before the Magistrate, the prosecution told Court that Vessel MV Avant Garde which was arrested in September 2015, for allegedly maintaining a floating armoury on board, that the suspect, Operations Manager was apprehended on charges of keeping in his possession unlawful firearms and explosives and transporting same.
Hence, the prosecution pleaded Court to remand the suspect as the investigations over the incident were still being carried out.
However, the defense argued that the case of Avant Garde was a quite pathetic experience that the arms detected on board the disputed ship belonged to Rakna Lanka Ltd., which was a government owned firm and administered by the Defense Ministry.
The Defense Lawyer further said that the suspect was an ex-Major of the Sri Lanka Army and had become incapacitated in war and requested the Magistrate to issue an order instructing the suspect to be admitted to the Prison hospital.
The Magistrate in response to the defense pleadings, said that he had no authority to issue an order for the admission of the suspect to the Prison hospital as the Magistrate Court had no authority to grant him bail.
However, the Magistrate ordered the Prison Superintendent to arrange for a medical investigation on the suspect’s health conditions.
Harith Hettiarachchi, Attorney at Law appeared for the petitioner and IP Lasantha Rathnayake and Wasantha appeared on behalf of the Criminal Investigation Department.
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