“Interpol in Colombo has received notice from Interpol Headquarters in Lyon, saying that acceding to the application, a Red Notice has been issued. That means that if Arjuna Mahendran ever attempts to leave or enter any country, including Sri Lanka or Singapore, through conventional borders, that he is on a red notice will appear on computers at Immigration,” the top official told the Sunday Observer.

The official said it was also true that Red Notices take some time to be uploaded on to the Interpol website once issued.All 192 countries have an obligation to comply with the Interpol Red Notice, the official said. “This Red Notice is for worldwide circulation and is not limited to some countries alone,” the official added.

The Red Notice was as issued after an application was submitted by the CID on the advice of the Attorney General following the arrest warrant issued by the Colombo Fort Magistrate, Lanka Jayaratne in mid March.

Commenting on Mahendran’s reported sightings in Singapore he said, “There is unverified information that he has entered Singapore. At the time we did not have a red notice on him but now if he attempts to leave that country via airport or cross over by land to Malaysia, he can be apprehended.”

The official said the Interpol has issued the red notice and now it is up to the respective countries to enforce their obligation because all sovereign states are members of the Interpol.In the absence of a bi-lateral extradition treaty between Sri Lanka and Singapore, the Government is likely to seek refuge in Commonwealth agreements to get the former Central Bank governor extradited to Sri Lanka following his imminent arrest.At the time of independence the member countries agreed on a common extradition arrangement for commonwealth countries. “Therefore”, the official said, “our extradition law as well as the extradition law of Singapore operates on the footing that both of us were former colonies of the British empire”.