Galle Chief Magistrate Harshana Kekunawela concluding the trial of the case regarding Avant Garde floating armory operated on sea near Galle Harbour on Friday (September 20) ordered the Galle Prison Superintendent to produce the respective four suspects who are in remand prison before Three Judge Bench at Hall No. 3 of Colombo High Court on September 27. The Avant Garde Case was heard at Galle magistrate Court for about four years.
Accordingly the fourth suspect Victor Samarawwera , Chairman of Rakna Lanka Security Services,fifth suspect Retired Major General Palitha Waduge Piyasiri Fernando, Sixth suspect Major General Karunarathna Banda Adikari Egodawela and seventh suspect Police Commission former Secretary Saman Disnayake are to be produced before the Three Judge Panel of Colombo High Court.
The magistrate issued the subsequent order following a submission made before him by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The CID Officials pleaded the magistrate for an order for the production of the suspects before the Colombo High Court as corresponding case was currently trialed before the said Three Judge High Court Panel.
Successively the interpreter of the Magistrate Court handed over the relevant notices to each of the suspects at the respondents’ podium.
The ship MV Avant Garde was found to contain 549 T-56 assault rifles, 264 S-84 rifles and, 204,674 rounds of ammunition during an inspection on October 6, 2015, while docked at the Galle Port.
The floating armoury unlawfully operated by Avant Garde Maritime Services near Galle harbour was detained by the police and handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department for further investigations.
A group of attorneys including Ajith Pathirana and Hartih Hettiarachchi appeared for the suspects.