22 monks arrested for bringing 112 kilos of kush and hashish from Thailand and a group of 23 including monk Agunakole Amithananda, who is suspected of leading them, were produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday (2).
At that time, a monk who introduced himself as Venerable Lakegala attempted to remove journalists who had come to report on court proceedings from the court premises.
However, the monk who introduced himself as Venerable Lakegala made a strong effort to prevent the media from filming the scene of the suspected monks being taken to the prison bus.
As it was almost seven in the evening, the court premises were shrouded in darkness. Therefore, several high-powered light bulbs were lit to provide light to the steps leading into the court. At that time, at the request of the Lakegala monk who arrived there, another monk who was there took off his robe and turned off the high-powered light bulbs, darkening the entire court premises. Due to this, it was difficult to videotape the way the suspected monks were taken to the prison bus.
The Lakegala monk said that a group of innocent monks had been caught in the act and that the government was conspiring to remove their robes.
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