Lankan Ex-Minister Basil Rajapaksa Tried To Escape Dubai: Source

The Immigration dept. declined Mr. Rajapaksa to travel

Ahead of the Sri Lankan crisis, Basil Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's former finance minister, tried to flee to Dubai amid the wave of protests in the country but had to stay back after people at the airport identified him and immigration officers denied to clear his journey, sources said.

As per the source, Mr. Rajapaksa, brother of Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was trying to leave the country this morning through the VIP terminal at Colombo international airport when people recognised him and objected to him leaving the country, a source said.

Although the authenticity is not verified in the widely spread images, showing the former minister at the airport lounge. 

The sources said he reached the check-in counter at 12.15 am and was there till 3.15 am as immigration officials refused to clear him. He had to eventually leave the airport after the immigration officers did not clear him, the sources added.

The Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers Association told news agency Reuters that its members declined to serve Basil Rajapaksa at the VIP departure lounge of the Colombo airport.

"Given the unrest in Sri Lanka, immigration officials are under tremendous pressure to not allow top-level people to leave the country," K A S Kanugala, chairman of the association, told Reuters.

"We are concerned for our security. So until this issue is resolved, the immigration officials working at the VIP lounge decided to withdraw their services."

Indian government sources have, meanwhile, denied reports that Basil Rajapaksa is being sheltered here. The sources have also denied that President Rajapaksa, who is likely to resign tomorrow in the face of the massive economic crisis in the island nation, escaped to India. The sources indicated that none of Sri Lanka's top leaders could fly out.

In the past few months, the country faced massive outrage from citizens due to the crisis and the protests reached a climax this weekend when protesters barged into the President's official residence. Following intelligence inputs, the President had been moved out of his residence.

The Lankan president was also stopped from leaving his country following a similar humiliating standoff with airport immigration staff, news agency AFP reported today, quoting official sources.