The incident has also caused a number of political tussles, with opposition members claiming that a media secretary working for Minister of Finance and Mass Media, Mangala Samaraweera was among those arrested and found rubbing shoulders with Makandure Madush. The Minister refuting these allegations has directed the Police to investigate into the allegations and reveal the real personalities arrested in Dubai. “This mudslinging is an attempt to tarnish my political career spanning 30 years,” the Minister said in a letter to IGP Pujith Jayasundara asking him to conduct an investigation into the allegations being levelled against him. Minister Samaraweera said that he is also considering legal action against media institutions which continue to carry these false allegations against him.He has drawn attention to repeated allegations by UPFA MPs Dilan Perera and Thenuka Vidanagamage in his letter to the IGP. “Despite my firm denials of the accusations, MP Perera said these drug kingpins are on the Media Minister’s lap. I believe the hidden motive of such wild accusations is to save the real culprits behind the drug mafia. The Minister has requested the IGP to reveal the politicians who accompanied Madush to the airport to safely send him out of the country.
He said people have not forgotten the shameful history under the Rajapaksa’s where drug dealers were given political immunity.