A tense situation was reported at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) this evening after several interviewees claimed of an alledged interference of Nimal Siripala De Silva in recruiting airport security officers, airport sources said.

It was reported that several rounds of interviews had taken place over the last few weeks to recruit 100 male security officers and 50 female officers at the airport.

According to the sources at the airport, the 100 male security officers were selected according to the given criteria, but 25 male officers were selected out of the 50 female officers allocation, due to Minister De Silva’s  interference.

“The 25 male officers were not selected according to the selection criteria. Because of this, in total, 25 female officers and 125 male security officers were selected,” sources said.

Due to the involvement of the Ports, Shipping, and Aviation Minister, a tense situation was reported at the airport premises this evening, the airport source said.

However, the selected trainee security officers had been taken to the Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment Army Camp Ambepussa for training purposes.

Several attempts to contact the minister failed. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama and T.K.G. Kapila)