No lawful authority for immigration officers to prevent Prez from flying out - SLIEOA

The Immigration & Emigration Officers’ Association (SLIEOA) says its members have no lawful authority to prevent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from leaving the country as he is still officially in office.

In a statement, the association also said there is no truth to the media reports and social media posts in circulation, which claim that the immigration & emigration officers refused to allow President Rajapaksa to fly out of the country after he arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake today.

After the anti-government protesters in large numbers gathered to Colombo and occupied the President’s House, Presidential Secretariat and the Temple Trees on Saturday (July 09), there have been reports of top-level officials including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa attempting to fly out of the country.

Early this morning, former Minister Basil Rajapaksa had tried to leave the country from the BIA, however, he was forced to turn back after the immigration officers at the BIA declined to serve him at the Silk Route departure lounge for VIPs.

The Immigration & Emigration Officers’ Association later said its members have withdrawn from providing services citing security concerns and tremendous pressure to not allow top-level figures to fly out of the country.

Subsequently, SriLankan Nidahas Sewaka Sangamaya (SLNSS) also walked away from operations at the CIP operations at Silk Route lounge.

The president of the union Janaka Vijayapathiratne said SriLankan employees will have to face public outrage if services are provided to high-ranking officials, who are responsible for the ongoing crisis, attempting to flee.