Friday, 22 November 2013 06:35
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Security breach as live mapilas found in Ranil’s Parliamentary officesBy Ashwin Hemmathagama
Our Lobby Correspondent
Parliament security procedures are under a cloud after a semi-poisonous serpent was discovered in the office of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on the third floor of the building yesterday.
A two-feet long Forsten’s Cat Snake, commonly known as a mapila, was coiled inside the office of the Leader of the Opposition.
This was in spite of rigorous security checks ahead of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s arrival in Parliament last afternoon to deliver the Budget presentation.
The main opposition United National Party said that advance security inspections had been carried out by three separate units – the Police, the STF and the Presidential Security Division – ahead of the President’s visit to Parliament.
The fact that all three teams failed to discover the snake in the Opposition Leader’s office has prompted Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa to launch an inquiry into the incident.
The snake is currently in the possession of the Sergeant-at-Arms and will soon be released to the wild.
