Airplanes that take off from the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport are subjected to a special security screening by a team of the Sri Lanka Air Force personnel starting today.

Air Force Commander Gagan Bulathsinghala inspected the security procedures at the air port earlier in the day.

It is suspected that Sri Lanka is being used as a transit point by individuals with connections to terror groups.

The Maldives government has recently said that around 35 to 40 of its nationals have gone to Syria, most probably to join the ISIS. The Maldivian opposition says that the numbers are much higher.

Maldivians are thought to have used Sri Lanka to leave for other countries.