Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa met with Switzerland’s ambassador to Colombo this week, where he told him that the alleged abduction of a Swiss embassy employee last month was “a total fabrication”.
In a meeting with Hanspeter Mock, Rajapaksa reportedly said “the Embassy official must have been compelled by some interested parties to bring myself and my government in to disrepute”.
Sri Lanka’s official President's Media Division quoted Ambassador Mock as telling Rajapaksa that, “We wish to work together for the benefit of both countries”.
“Also we need to overcome this situation of tension and to remove any misunderstanding,” he was reported to have added.
Their meeting coems after the Swiss embassy employee was arrested by Sri Lankan authorities yesterday. She is reported to have been adbucted by a group on unknown men in Colombo last month. The New York Times reported the men "forced her to unlock her cellphone data, which contained information about Sri Lankans who have recently sought asylum in Switzerland, and the names of Sri Lankans who aided them as they fled the country because they feared for their safety after Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidency in elections this month". Before releasing her, they reportedly threatened to kill her if she told anyone of her ordeal.