Drug gangs behind Sri Lanka Easter bombings, reveals President

coastaldigest.com web desk
July 15, 2019

Colombo, Jul 15: International drug syndicates orchestrated Sri Lanka's deadly Easter Sunday bombings, the country's top leader revealed today. The government had initially blamed the attacks on terror groups that operate in the name of Islam.

The statement comes amid a nationwide narcotics crackdown, with President Maithripala Sirisena aiming to reintroduce capital punishment for drug offences.

Authorities have said local jihadist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) were responsible for the suicide bombings in churches and hotels that killed at least 258 people in April. The attacks were later claimed by the Islamic State group.

Sirisena's office said the day after the bombings that local terrorists and international terror groups were responsible for the attacks.

But in a statement issued by his office Monday, Sirisena said the attacks "were the work of international drug dealers".

"Drug barons carried out this attack to discredit me and discourage my anti-narcotics drive. I will not be deterred," he said.

Sirisena is waging a battle against efforts by his governing coalition in parliament to abolish capital punishment, which has been subject to a moratorium since 1976.

Sri Lankan courts routinely hand down death sentences to drug offenders, murderers and rapists but it is automatically commuted a term of life imprisonment.

The president has marshalled public support for an end to the moratorium, saying that hangings would deter the illegal drugs trade.

"If the government brings legislation to abolish capital punishment, I will declare a day of national mourning," Sirisena said in the statement, adding that public opinion favoured hanging condemned criminals.

He said the leading Buddhist monk Omalpe Sobitha had advised him to resume hangings and not to abandon his war on narcotics.

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court earlier this month suspended Sirisena's moves to hang four drug convicts. The court banned any executions until it rules on a petition seeking a declaration that hanging breaches the country's constitution.

The next hearing in the case is in October.

Sri Lanka's last hangman retired in 2014, but officials said they had selected two new executioners from a pool of candidates.

Comments

ABDUL AZIZ
 - 
Tuesday, 16 Jul 2019

ALHAMDULILLAH, TRUTH PREVAILED AND EVIL PERISHED,   PUNISH THE CRIMINALS AND MURDERERS SOON , DONT BLAME MUSLIMS,    ISLAM is peacefull religion,  dont blame muslims as terrorists, 

 

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 24,2020

Bengaluru, May 24: With 130 new cases, Karnataka's COVID-19 tally crossed the 2,000-mark on Sunday. Most new cases reported have interstate travel history with 97 coming from Maharashtra. The number of active cases in the state is 1,391 and the deaths reported so far is 42, including 2 for non-COVID reasons.

"Ninety seven of the 130 new patients are returnees from Maharashtra, the worst affected state in the country with 47,190 cases till Saturday," said a state health official. 

"The total number of COVID-19 cases across the state is 2,089, with 130 more testing positive in the past 18 hours," said the official.

Forty six patients were discharged from hospitals on Sunday taking the number of cured persons to 634. Of the 46 discharged, 18 are in Davanagere, 20 in Uttara Kannada, 4 in Chitradurga, 3 in Bagalakote and one in Haveri.

Of the 30 Karnataka districts, Chikkaballapura recorded the highest cases on Sunday at 27, followed by Yadgir (24), Udupi (23), Mandya (15) and Hassan (14).

Chikkaballapura is the home district of Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, a doctor by profession, who is spearheading the fight against the pandemic.

On Saturday, the state's tally shot up to 1,959 due to 196 new cases, the highest single-day rise, with 195 of them crossing over from Maharashtra through the inter-state border, which was opened up as part of partial relaxation of the lockdown.  

The Karnataka government has imposed institutional quarantine on persons traveling in from outside the state, particularly by flight from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Udupi, Jan 9: State Revenue Minister R Ashoka said on Wednesday that the state government is embarking on a novel method to ensure that social security schemes were available to the beneficiaries at their doorsteps.

Speaking after inaugurating the Mini Vidhana Soudha here, he said government will look into the Aadhaar number and income certificates to decide the eligibility of the beneficiaries. The initiative will help the poor to access welfare schemes without any hassles.

The initiative will be launched as a pilot project in Udupi district. Later, the project will extend to other districts in a phased manner. In Udupi district, 30,000 beneficiaries have been identified. The government has set aside nearly Rs 7,000 crore for social security schemes. The initiative will not only eliminate middlemen menace but will help the government save Rs 1,000 crore.

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News Network
February 16,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 16: The Central Crime Branch has recovered blank firearms from Saddaguntepalya Police Station limits.

As of now, two persons have been arrested in this regard. They have been identified as Mohd Junaid and Mohd Tabrez. The officials have recovered 28 blank firearms and 76 blank bullets.

"The two accused -- without having any license -- were in possession of these huge number of weapons," Sandeep Patil, Joint CP, Crime, told media.

As per the preliminary investigation, there has been no record of such cases in Bengaluru. "But we are verifying if other states have any (such) case," added the Joint CP

According to investigations, it was noted that the weapons were purchased from Mumbai at an estimated cost of Rs 1 lakh per weapon.

Further investigation is currently underway.

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