Sri Lanka crisis: Ex minister Basil Rajapaksa tried to flee, flyers objected

Basil Rajapaksa, the younger brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and a former finance minister of Sri Lanka, was denied access to the Silk Route Passenger Clearance Terminal amid passenger protests.

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 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."

Sri Lanka has been in the grip of a huge economic crisis for several months, and riots erupted this weekend when protestors stormed the President's official mansion. The President had been relocated out of his mansion after geting intelligence inputs.

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.

As president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to want to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.

Sri Lanka has ran out of foreign currency to finance even the most basic goods, causing great suffering for the country's 22 million inhabitants. The country defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in April and is negotiating a possible bailout with the International Monetary Fund.