In the wake of Sri Lanka blasts, the country’s authorities have frozen the bank accounts of 41 terror suspects, who may be in links with the local islamist group National Thowheed Jamaat
Colombo: Bank accounts of 41 terror suspects in Sri Lanka, who are suspected of having links with the outlawed Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jammath (NTJ) that was behind the Easter Sunday bombings in the country, have been frozen.
Also read: Sri Lanka blasts: Kurunegala police arrest six others in connection with Easter Sunday attack
Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said that the suspects are under the custody of the Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Also read: Sri Lanka blasts: Five arrested in Colombo for suspected links with National Thowheed Jamaath
The accounts have a total amount of Rs 134 million ($759,335), which was in addition to Rs 14 million ($79,333) seized from the possession of suspects at the time of their arrest, Gunasekara was quoted as saying by the Times Online on Friday.
Meanwhile, the CID has also launched an investigation into assets worth Rs 7 billion ($30 million) belonging to the suspects, he said. The ISIS terror group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the government blamed the local NTJ for the bombings.
Also watch: Sri Lanka: Human bone fragments, pieces of LTTE uniforms found
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday extended the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the deadly blasts by a month, citing “public security”.
Sri Lanka initially imposed the emergency on April 23 to crack down on the nine suicide bom
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