Basil Rajapaksa
Sri Lanka: Ex-minister Basil Rajapaksa tried to escape, immigration officials foil his move
Colombo: Sri Lanka's former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, the youngest brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was prevented from leaving the country through the Silk Route Passenger Clearance Terminal amid protests by passengers.
According to reports, airport immigration officials prevented him from leaving the country.
According to the immigration office sources, the former Minister arrived at the Badaranaike International Airport (BIA) at 12.00 midnight last night to leave for Dubai, Daily Mirror reported.
The reserved flight was scheduled to leave the nation for Dubai at 3.15 am.
However, the immigration officers refused to approve Basil Rajapaksa's departure. Later, the Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers' Association (SLIEOA) decided to withdraw from functioning at the Silk Route Passenger Clearance Terminal from last night, reports Daily Mirror.
Saturday protest:
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stormed the President's House here on Saturday after overcoming stiff resistance put up by security forces, leaving an unspecified number of people injured.
Saturday's action came a month after mass protests forced Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to quit and take shelter in a military camp in the eastern port city of Trincomalee.
The Rajapaksa brothers -- part of a large clan -- are widely blamed for Sri Lanka's worst economic crisis.
The nation of 22 million people is struggling under a severe foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, plunging the country into the worst economic crisis in decades.
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