STF received only part of the intel prior to Easter Sunday attacks – STF Chief

Commandant of the Special Task Force (STF), Senior DIG M. R. Latheef says the STF received only part of the intelligence prepared by the state intelligence units and that the STF is not included in the country’s intelligence coordinating meetings although the force provides security to the President, Prime Minister and other VIPs.

Senior DIG Latheef has made this statement before the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday attacks yesterday (25).

The Senior DIG has told the PSC that while he was excluded from all intelligence discussions, he was invited for the National Security Council meeting only after the Easter Sunday attacks.

He has noted that he had received the state intelligence chief’s letter on April 9 warning of impending attacks along with a single annexure which had identified the Indian High Commission and main churches in Colombo as possible targets.

However, Latheef had subsequently learnt that there had been other annexures that had been shared with other agencies with more details and that those annexures had contained more specific details about the organisation, what they are up to, specifics about their group and addresses.

The Senior DIG has noted that he had then realised that there was information on the terrorist organisation and individuals with the security organisations which could have been used to take preventative action.

The STF Chief has said that after receiving the letter from the intelligence chief, he had taken the initiative of checking with the Indian High Commission, but nothing was done about the churches since there were no specifics and request for the STF’s assistance.

Latheef has noted that when there is a requirement the IGP or Senior DIGs request for assistance from the STF after which they attend to it.

“I was under the inference that the territorial policing will attend to churches and that if they required STF assistance for additional security or searches or any other requirement, they would have made a request,” he has said.

However, neither the IGP nor the Senior DIG of Western Province had made any request from the STF for assistance.

The Senior DIG has added that he knows that every Tuesday the country’s intelligence and various organisations meet to review on many things and that if the STF was an important component the STF Commandant or a representative from the STF would definitely be invited for the review meetings.

According to Latheef, the intelligence coordinating meeting is a very important meeting, but the STF has never been a part of that meeting in spite of the fact that at previous other meetings at Police Headquarters statements had been made to the IGP that the STF would like to be in that meeting specially because they are providing security to the President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries.

“Intelligence coordinating meeting I have never been invited to date, but national security meeting on the 23rd of July after the attack I was invited and then I shared what I knew.”

Latheef has said he was never invited to Security Council meetings before the attacks.