Colombo:The individuals involved in a foiled plot to attack tourists at a surfing resort on Sri Lanka's eastern coast were planning to enlist the help of former terror suspects, including one linked to the LTTE, police told a court here.
Police’s terrorist investigation division on Friday produced before Colombo Fort Magistrate Court the three suspects, two Maldivians and a resident, arrested in connection with the plot.
On 23 October last year, the US embassy in Colombo issued a travel warning asking their citizens to leave and stay away from Arugambay claiming they had received credible information on a possible terror attack at the coastal area.
Sri Lankan police followed with notice that Israeli tourists were the intended target. Police on Friday told the court that the plotters were to use several persons who had been released from prison for past acts of terrorism.
The plotters had made contact with an LTTE suspect who is being charged with attempting to carry out mass killings in 2008 as part of the rebel group's terror campaign to set up a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east provinces.
The plot was hatched inside the Colombo jail, police said. Police said they also arrested six more persons who had videographed the area and gathered information for the plotters. Interpol red notices have been issued to arrest two more – an Afghan and a Maldivian.
