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FBI focusing on cyber aspect 

21 May 2021

 

  • FBI/AFP assisting SL authorities, conducting separate probes: Terror scholar 

  • Charges against Naufar Moulavi et al. on US soil based on 2-yr probe 

  • FBI/AFP findings based on evidence/intel, info review, terror suspects debriefing, forensic crime scene analysis 

  • ‘Owing to collaborative nature of probe, no one can dispute CID/TID probe outcome’: Prof. Rohan Gunaratna

          By Buddhika Samaraweera   The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) of the US is probing the entirety of the Easter Sunday terror attacks which took place on 21 April 2019, with a particular emphasis on the cyberspace aspect of the bombings, The Sunday Morning learnt.   Making a special statement regarding the status of the investigations into the Easter Sunday bombings, following a controversial claim by Attorney General (AG) President’s Counsel Dappula de Livera that the Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) probes into certain suspects were incomplete, thus delaying the process of indictments being filed against them, Public Security Minister Rear Admiral (Retd.) Sarath Weerasekera revealed in Parliament this week that the CID together with the FBI and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are still investigating the said attacks, noting that such investigations are, by their complex nature, time consuming. Following the AG’s statement, Minister Weerasekera had instructed the CID to submit a report pertaining to the matter. However, according to Weerasekera, nine cases have been filed against 32 suspects so far and necessary steps are to be taken to file cases against the other suspects as well. Commenting on the international nature of the said probe to The Sunday Morning, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) Head and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Professor of Security Studies and Honorary Professor at the Sir John Kotelawala Defence University Prof. Rohan Gunaratna claimed that in addition to continuing to assist the local authorities in their investigations carried out into the Easter Sunday bombings, the FBI and the AFP are still conducting separate investigations into the matter. He also said that the criminal charges filed on 11 December 2020 in the US District Court in Los Angeles against Mohamed Naufar alias Naufar Moulavi, Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Riskan, and Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed, for allegedly conspiring to provide material support to the terrorist organisation – the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – were the result of a nearly two-year-long investigation conducted by the FBI. Minister Weerasekera had also claimed that information has come to light that several foreigners were involved in the Easter Sunday terror attacks and that an Australian national of Sri Lankan origin, Lukman Thalib, has already been arrested in Qatar in this regard. Prof. Gunaratna noted that the FBI and the AFP investigations are focused on determining the group of terrorists to whom the Easter Sunday attackers belonged to. “The assistance rendered to Sri Lanka by the FBI and the AFP was invaluable after the Easter Sunday bombings. Their findings are based on a review of both the evidence and the intelligence information gathered, as well as through the debriefing of suspected terrorists. They also conducted forensic investigations at the crime scenes,” Prof. Gunaratna added. Pointing out that the Easter Sunday bombings were an act of international terrorism where foreign nationals were killed, injured, and maimed, Prof. Gunaratna observed that the participation of foreign investigative counterparts such as the FBI, the AFP, and the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) validates the findings of the local investigators into the massacre.  “As it is a joint effort, no one can dispute the outcomes of the investigations conducted by the CID and the Terrorism Investigations Division (TID),” he opined.


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