Sri Lanka's former intelligence chief has been arrested in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners, a police spokesman said.
Suresh Salley was arrested on Wednesday by the Criminal Investigation Department, spokesman Fredrick Wootler said.
The co-ordinated suicide bombings targeted three upmarket hotels in Colombo, two Roman Catholic churches, and an evangelical Protestant church outside the city. The attacks were blamed on a home-grown jihadist group.
The department is investigating possible “links or lapses” by Mr Salley in connection with the attacks, Mr Wootler said.
The bombings became the worst attack against civilians in a country where at least 100,000 people had been killed in a Tamil separatist war that ended in May 2009 after nearly four decades of violence.
Mr Sallay, who was promoted to State Intelligence Service (SIS) chief in 2019 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president, had been accused of involvement in organising the suicide bombings, an allegation he has denied.
His long-expected arrest came before the seventh anniversary of the bombings.
British broadcaster Channel 4 reported in 2023 that he was linked to the Islamist bombers and had met them before the attack. Two days after the bombings, ISIS claimed responsibility, but investigators said they had no evidence to establish a foreign link directly.
More than 500 people were killed and wounded in the bombings, which crippled the island nation’s previously lucrative tourism industry.
Five US nationals were among those killed, and in 2021 American authorities charged three Sri Lankans for supporting the attacks. The three are among 25 suspects indicted in Sri Lanka's High Court.
The Supreme Court fined then president Maithripala Sirisena and four senior officials more than $1.03 million in a civil case for their failure to prevent the attacks.
The UN has asked Sri Lanka to publish parts of previous inquiries into the bombings that were withheld from the public.
