Alhaj Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim, a wealthy and prominent Colombo-based Muslim spice trader, has been taken in police custody yesterday after investigating authorities identified his two sons as among the suicide bombers responsible for the perpetrating the devastating Sri Lanka Easter Sunday attacks on churches and upscale hotels that have now claimed the lives of more than 320 people, AFP reported.

Alhaj Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim is a prominent and well- respected member of Sri Lanka’s business community and was politically associated with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party.

As per Sri Lankan police, Alhaj Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim’s sons, 33-year-old Imsath Ahmed Ibrahim and 31-year-old Ilham Ahmed Ibrahim, played a key role in planning and executing the attacks. They are said to have blown up the Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels in Colombo where many were killed on Sunday while eating breakfast.

Alhaj Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim was arrested at his home in the Colombo suburb of Dematagoda on Sunday (22 April) during an operation in which three police officers were killed. The cops were killed at blast at the home when they were attempting to arrest suspects linked to the country’s worst terror attacks in more than a decade.

According to police sources, three police officers died when the wife of one of the Muslim brothers set off a device at another address while cops were investigating the attacks.

First Post reported that police are questioning Alhaj Mohammed Yusuf Ibrahim and his third son 30 year old Ijas Ahmed Ibrahim to ascertain their extent of knowledge about the terror links of the family member.

According to the report, Ismail Ahmed Ibrahim, the family’s youngest son, who is currently on the run, was indoctrinated and trained at a remote Islamic terror camp. He was allegedly involved in attacks last year to destroy Buddhist shrines, and in the assassination of Mohamed Razak Taslim, secretary to the highways minister Kabir Hashim , a critic of Islamists.

The brothers were reportedly at the centre of Islamist groups that sent at least 36 people to fight with Islamic State in Syria.