United Kingdom Karuna was arrested in London on 2 November 2007, following a joint operation between the Metropolitan Police and the Border and Immigration Agency. It is thought that Karuna was found in possession of a forged passport and firearms. According to the Sunday Times, a weekly English newspaper published in Sri Lanka, the British authorities claimed that they had enough evidence to show that the Sri Lankan government was complicit in helping Karuna receive a diplomatic passport. Karuna confessed in court that the government, through permanent Secretary of Defense Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had given him the passport. On 25 January 2008, he was sentenced to nine months in prison. He was transferred to an immigration detention centre in May 2008. A number of human rights groups, led by Amnesty International, urged the Metropolitan Police to investigate Karuna for war crimes including torture, hostage-taking and recruitment of child soldiers. The Met Police did not respond and Karuna returned to Sri Lanka on 3 July, 2008. Political career Upon his return to Sri Lanka, Karuna entered democratic politics and joined the SLFP alongside 1750 other ex-LTTE members. Karuna praised then-incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa, claiming that the Black July riots would not have happened if Rajapaksa was in power during the period. Karuna was then sworn in as Minister of National Integration. COVID-19 speech controversy On 19 June 2020, Karuna made a publicity stunt by making a revelation that he was even cruel and merciless than the COVID-19 virus saying "I am dangerous than coronavirus. Corona killed 11 people but I killed 2000-3000 soldiers within one day." He stated that he killed more than 3000 soldiers at the Elephant Pass during the war and claimed that he was more dangerous than the COVID-19 related fatalities in the country. His insensible comments drew widespread criticism from political fraternity calling him a barbarian and he was summoned to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department to record statements according to the order by acting DGP C. D. Wickramaratne. Karuna later claimed that his speech was edited by the media and that he never made such comments. The UN Human Rights Commission called upon the government to start further investigations regarding Karuna's former alleged war crimes, however, the Karuna and the TMVP were close allies with the SLPP, the ruling party, which defended Karuna. Karuna went through few trials by the courts. Several groups brought evidence of