A viral video circulating on social media showing a conversation between a Sri Lankan woman and an official of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) at the Bandaranaike International Airport is not recent but dates back to 2023, SLBFE Chairman Kosala Wickramasinghe clarified.
The footage shows the official informing the woman that female passengers were not permitted to travel alone on tourist visas.
Chairman Wickramasinghe explained that the incident took place during a period when special operations were underway to prevent Sri Lankans from travelling to Myanmar and Thailand on visit visas, following a surge in human trafficking and overseas job scam cases.
“The conversation occurred as part of one of those preventive operations,” he said.
The matter was also raised at the weekly Cabinet media briefing, where Minister Vijitha Herath stated that he would look into the incident.
