He was waiting for his flight back to Colombo in the departure lounge of the Velana International Airport in the Maldives when they arrested him; a police officer in plain clothes along with four others. Sri Lankan Lahiru Madushanka Manikkaudura (hereafter referred to as Lahiru Madushanka), who had flown to the Maldives in search of business opportunity and better prospects, had no idea on 23rd October 2015 that he was to be embroiled in a saga worthy of a Bollywood storyline. Aged 27 at the time, and with a wife and their child, aged three, awaiting his return home, Lahiru has been charged with nothing less than participating in a conspiracy to assassinate the President of the Maldives Abdulla Yameen, along with co-defendant, and former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, and two others. Lahiru’s family and his lawyer assert that he has never had any military training in his life but was a driver in Colombo, and yet he is now accused of being a highly trained sniper who was brought to the Maldives to assassinate the President of the country.
