Minister of Estate Infrastructure Development – Jeevan Thondaman has issued a clarification on a viral video that shows him threatening an official at an estate in Matale District.

The incident had occurred when the minister had visited the Ratwatte Estate in the Elkaduwa Plantation in the Matale District to inquire about the mistreatment of an impoverished family by the estate assistant manager, by forcibly tearing down their house.

“As Minister, I demanded action from the Chairman and General Manager of the Estate against this behaviour. Immediate steps were taken, and the Assistant Manager has been removed and dismissed.

“The Chairman, General Manager, and the responsible Assistant Manager also personally apologised to the affected family. Moreover, the Estate has committed to constructing a permanent home for them within its premises. But this is just the beginning,” he had said.

The matter was also Tweeted by MP Mano Ganesan, who had taken up the matter with Minister of Plantations Ramesh Pathirana, calling for the assistant manager to be sacked.

A Safe Migration Promotion Unit (SMU) to prevent illegal emigration on forged visas through the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) has been established at the departure terminal of the airport by Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manush Nanayakkara.

The minister said several individuals had left for Oman, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates on forged visas and it has created serious issues.

He said the Safe Migration Unit was established on the recommendations of the Ministry of Defense and the National Task Force to Prevent Human Smuggling to prevent the movement of passengers on illegal travel documents.

The SMU comprises officers of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau, the CID, the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the State Intelligence Service.

Minister Nanayakkara said it would function as a pilot project for three months and will be further improved thereafter.

Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Company Maj. Gen. (Rtd) G.A. Chandrasiri, Airport Management Chief H.S. Hettiarachchi, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau Hilmi Azeez, General Manager Priyantha Senanayake and several senior police and CID officials were present at the occasion.

(dailymirror.lk)

A woman has been arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport for the possession of four passports.

The arrested woman has been identified as a 48-year-old resident of Kalpitiya and the she had been arrested by the Police Narcotics Unit at BIA after landing at the airport around 4.40am from Chennai, India.

Police said she had concealed the passports in sarees, which she had claimed to have bought in India.

Officers suspect she had brought the passports to be handed over to traffickers who make arrangements for locals to travel to European countries.

The suspect has been handed over to the CID along with the passports.