Rajapaksa and his wife flew to Male, Maldives, on a Sri Lanka Air Force AN32 transport plane, the official said.
Local air traffic control denied the plane’s request to land until the intervention of Maldivian Majlis speaker and former president Mohamed Nasheed, according to the official. CNN has reached out to Nasheed for comment.
Embattled Rajapaksa had previously been blocked from leaving Sri Lanka at least twice on Monday after refusing to join a public immigration queue at Bandaranaike International Airport, a senior military source told CNN.
Rajapaksa’s aides arrived at Colombo airport on Monday with 15 passports belonging to the president and members of his family – including first lady Yoma Rajapaksa – who had booked seats on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight departing for Dubai at 6.25pm local time, according to the military source.
But immigration officials refused to process the passports given to them by presidential aides because Rajapaksa and his family were not physically present for cross-checks. The flight eventually took off without the president and his family on board, the source added.
Another attempt was made to put the family on an Etihad flight scheduled to depart Colombo for Abu Dhabi at 9:20 p.m. local, according to the source, but the same problem occurred as the Rajapaksa family refused to join the public immigration queue for fields.
In both cases, the Rajapaksa family was in a nearby airport lounge waiting for confirmation that they could board without queuing among the public, the source said.
On Tuesday, a video released by a former police officer claimed Rajapaksa was staying at a private house belonging to a senior air force commander. The Sri Lanka Air Force denied the claim, describing it as propaganda aimed at tarnishing the image of the corps and its chief.
Forced to resign
Rajapaksa’s planned resignation on Wednesday – which follows months of protests against the country’s crippling economic crisis – would leave him without presidential immunity and potentially open to multiple legal charges in the country.
He was accused of high-level corruption and economic mismanagement that eventually led the country to bankruptcy and triggered its worst financial crisis since independence. He agreed to step down on Saturday after more than 100,000 people gathered outside his residence and called for his resignation. Some of the protesters then stormed the property and splashed in its pool.
Shocking images shared on social media showed demonstrators singing protest songs and chanting slogans calling for Rajapaksa to resign. Other photos show groups of demonstrators setting up barbecues to grill and cook food.
Report contributed by journalist Rukshana Rizvi.
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