Dushyantha Basnayake, director of Mawbima weekly, was detained under PTA after being questioned by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID).

Former minister Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi told BBC Sinhala that the police officers were about to leave his office when they received an order from a higher authority of the defence establishment.

Basnayake has been questioned by TID officers for nearly four hours prior to the arrest, parliamentarian Sooriyaarachchi said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa accused former ministers Sooyaaracchi and Mangala Samaraweera of using 'Mawbima' to plot against him.

Exhibiting reports from Mawbima and some other astrological papers, Rajapaksa told Executive Committee of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) that the former ministers plotted against his life.

Mawbima is owned by Tiran Alles, a close ally of the former minister Samaraweera.

Ruwan Ferdinandes, the cordinating secretary to the former minister, is the co-director of Mawbima newspaper.

Both sacked ministers have accused the government of gross human rights violations.

In a letter to the President, Samaraweera has alleged that a person dissapers every five hours in Sri Lanka.