187 Security Personnel For Mahinda

Minister of Law and Order, Sagala Ratnayake, informed Parliament yesterday that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been given a security contingent consisting of 187 Police and STF personnel.

The Minister made these remarks in response to an issue raised by MEP Leader, Dinesh Gunawardena earlier this week concerning the security detail of the former President, adding that 26 STF personnel trained for VIP Security are attached to the security detail of former President Rajapaksa.

The Minister noted that although the former President had been given a security contingent of 229 Police and STF officers, this number had been reduced by 42 following a threat assessment on VIPs.

Threat assessments are conducted at regular intervals of six months. The reduction of numbers in the security detail of former President Rajapaksa was not politically intended. It was done by the IGP after a careful analysis. MP Dinesh Gunawardena spoke to me on this matter. If former President Rajapaksa wants additional security at any special event, we can make arrangements in that regard and deploy more security officers from the Ministerial Security Division.