The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has ordered the gold items, believed to have belonged to the LTTE and recovered from various locations in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, to be handed over to the National Gem and Jewellery Authority for analysis and a detailed report.
The directive was issued by Colombo Chief Magistrate Thanuja Lakmali after a request from Deputy Solicitor General Suharshi Herath, representing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Court proceedings revealed that over 10,000 such items are currently held by the Military Intelligence Directorate. The court also directed the National Gem and Jewellery Authority to conduct the examination, with the assistance of officers from the Pawning Division of the Bank of Ceylon to assess the weight and value of the items.
Furthermore, the court instructed that following the analysis, the gold should be deposited with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and CID’s Crimes Division was authorized to photograph the deposit locations.
Investigations are also ongoing to determine whether these gold items were pawned or deposited by civilians from the Northern and Eastern regions.
