He then requested Moulana to arrange for secured transportation for himself and his trusted lieutenants to withdraw to the capital city of Colombo. As nearly 500 LTTE troops were moving fast on the offensive towards Karuna's base in Thopigalla, Moulana who happened to be close to the area, and due to the extreme sensitivity of the situation, decided to personally go to Karuna's base and get Karuna to safety himself. A six-car convoy carrying Moulana, Karuna and 20 other confidantes of Karuna retreated to Colombo on April 9, 2004, under the cover of darkness, where they were handed over by Moulana to high-ranking officers of the Sri Lanka Army Military Intelligence. Intelligence reports later revealed to the public said that Moulana and Karuna had managed to escape from the advancing LTTE forces by a mere 10 minutes.