‘AAVA Gangsters’ operate under auspices of Gotabhaya: Rajitha

Minister Rajitha Senaratne, addressing the weekly Cabinet press briefing at the Government Information Department today, said that the ‘AAVA Gangsters’ in the North were operating with the knowledge of former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Responding to a question posed by a journalist the Minister lashed out: ‘Who was it that nourished the ‘AAVA Gangsters? Which Brigadier? Which Major-General? I know him by name - who was it that created the ‘AAVA Gangsters' – who financed and armed them?”

“It happened then," he said, referring to the period under the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, "with the knowledge of the former Defense Secretary – an Army chieftain created the group under the instructions of the former Defense Secretary.”

“Today the ‘AAVA Gangsters' are creating havoc in the North – who is getting them to do that? Those Army chiefs, secretaries – they are still working to topple the government.”

“I will say this very clearly, the ‘AAVA Gangsters’ were created to be a disruptive force in the North by a person I will not name, on the instructions of the former Defense Secretary.”

"We will ask the secret police to look into this, and they will find that they are the ones who are behind this," he said.