More than 1,000 valuable artefacts, including items of vintage and antique value have reportedly gone missing from Sri Lanka’s Presidential Palace and Prime Minister’s official residence at Temple Trees here after irate anti-government protesters occupied these premises earlier this month, police said on Saturday. On July 9, anti-government protesters occupied the residences of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe after storming into their premises and setting fire to one of the buildings protesting the government’s handling of the unprecedented economic crisis.
Based on initial investigations at least 1,000 items of value, including rare artefacts have gone missing from the Presidential Palace as well as the Prime Minister’s official residence, web portal Colombo Page quoted police sources as saying. Special investigation teams have been formed to begin an investigation, it said.