Sri Lanka police chief arrested

Sri Lankan police yesterday arrested their top commander and a former defence chief over alleged failures to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 258 people, spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.

The arrests came a day after the chief state prosecutor said the alleged negligence of the two senior officials amounted to "grave crimes against humanity", and they should also face murder charges.

Pujith Jayasundara is the most senior police official to be arrested in the 152-year history of the force, which was established by British colonial rulers in 1867.

Both Jayasundara and former defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando were undergoing treatment at two separate hospitals when they were taken into custody by plain-clothed officers of the Criminal Investigations Department, Gunasekera said. They will remain in hospital, but detectives will formally report their arrest to a magistrate to decide what further action should be taken.

Attorney General Dappula de Livera, the chief state prosecutor, said Monday that the two men failed to act on advance warnings of the deadly Easter Sunday attacks, which were blamed on a local jihadi group.

They should be brought before a magistrate for their "criminal negligence" de Livera said in a letter to the acting police chief Chandana Wickramaratne.