Basil Rajapaksa stopped from flying out of Lanka

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan immigration officials stopped the president’s brother and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa from flying out of the country, Reuters reported.

The Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers Association said its members declined to serve Basil Rajapaksa at the VIP departure lounge at Colombo airport.

“Given the unrest in Sri Lanka, immigration officials are under tremendous pressure to not allow top-level people to leave the country,” K.A.S. Kanugala, chairman of the association, told Reuters.

“We are concerned for our security. So until this issue is resolved, the immigration officials working at the VIP lounge decided to withdraw their services.”

Pictures of Basil Rajapaksa at the lounge were carried by local media and widely shared on social media, with some people expressing anger at his attempts to flee. Basil Rajapaksa could not be immediately reached for comment and a close aide declined to give details.

A top official in the ruling party said that Basil Rajapaksa was still in the country.