Sri Lankan gov't minister resigns amid arms ship scandal

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's law and order minister resigned Monday after being accused of defending a private security company that is under investigation for allegedly running armories on ships.

Tilak Marapana said he was resigning because he did not want to cause any embarrassment to the ruling coalition.

Opposition and some government lawmakers sharply criticized Marapana's statement to Parliament last week in which he said floating armories run by the Avant Garde security company were legal.

Police are investigating the floating armories amid allegations of gun running. Sri Lanka's police are under the Ministry of Law and Order.

Avant Garde maintains that its operation was legal, saying the weapons were obtained legally, and that it was providing protection for ships against piracy.

Before he was appointed a minister in September, Marapana had represented Avant Garde as a lawyer.

Marapana told reporters Monday that some members of the government and public suspect that his position as law and order minister could "disrupt the ongoing investigation," and that he had therefore decided to resign in order to protect the government.

The investigation into the armory is part of a probe being conducted into allegedly corrupt deals made by the government of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The armories became a political issue during the presidential election in January, and investigations commenced soon after Rajapaksa lost the vote.

In January, a police raid found more than 3,000 automatic and semi-automatic weapons in a ship docked in the southern port of Galle. A second floating armory was seized last month. Opposition parties and some ruling lawmakers have continuously questioned the legality of the weapons cache.