In a dramatic revelation to Parliament, Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala stated that a critical warning from the Taj Samudra Hotel, alerting authorities to Easter bomber Jameel’s presence was ignored by Sri Lanka’s intelligence agencies. Meanwhile, shocking claims emerged that MP Pillayan had prior knowledge of the attacks while in custody. The silence from the State Intelligence Service is now under intense scrutiny.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala made a shocking revelation in Parliament, stating that the Taj Samudra Hotel had alerted authorities about the presence of suicide bomber Abdul Latif Mohamed Jameel a day before the devastating Easter Sunday attacks.
Speaking on the floor, the Minister confirmed that the Taj Samudra Hotel had sent an email to the State Intelligence Service (SIS) on April 20, 2019 just minutes after Jameel was seen entering the hotel premises. Despite this timely alert and the fact that Jameel was on a national security watch list, the SIS failed to respond or take preventive action, he said.
Jameel, one of the suicide bombers behind the Easter Sunday carnage that killed more than 250 people, had originally targeted the Taj Samudra Hotel. However, when his plan failed, he moved to a secondary location and ultimately died in an explosion at the Tropical Inn Hotel in Dehiwala.
Minister Wijepala emphasized that this ignored intelligence was a grave lapse in national security and underscored a systemic failure to act on credible threats despite advance warnings.
Adding to the disturbing account, the Minister also disclosed that according to the Attorney General, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, better known as MP Pillayan, had prior knowledge of the Easter attacks. This information, he said, came to light during the investigation while Pillayan was in remand custody at Batticaloa Prison.
These disclosures have reignited public outrage over the mishandling of intelligence prior to the 2019 attacks and raised fresh questions over political and institutional accountability.
