World / Sri Lanka Rashtrapati Bhavan PM official residence artefacts valuables missing

Sri Lanka : More than a thousand artefacts, including valuables, are missing from Sri Lanka's Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Prime Minister's official residence. This information has been given by the Police Department. Anti-government protesters occupied the residences of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on 9 July.

More than a thousand valuable artefacts, including essential items, have gone missing from Sri Lanka's Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Prime Minister's official residence at the 'Temple Tree', police said. Around 1,000 valuables, including rare artefacts, have gone missing from the Rashtrapati Bhavan as well as the Prime Minister's official residence, web portal 'Colombo Pages' quoted police sources as saying.

Special investigation team formed in the case

According to the news, special investigation teams have been constituted to start the investigation. The problem for the investigating officers is that the Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka does not have a detailed record of the antiquities and various artifacts in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. A senior official of the Archaeological Department said that it would be difficult to get specific and clear information about the exact number of missing antiquities. However, police estimate that the number of missing items could be more than 1,000.

'Government building will not be allowed to be occupied by protesters'

Newly-elected President Ranil Wickremesinghe said he respected protesters' right to peaceful demonstrations, but insisted he would not allow protesters to occupy any other government building such as the Rashtrapati Bhavan or the prime minister's private residence. Wickremesinghe said he has authorized Sri Lanka's armed forces and police to take all necessary action to prevent people from storming public places and disrupting parliament.