A Sri Lankan court today imposed a travel ban on Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, former defence secretary and brother of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and impounded his passport amid a probe into huge private floating arsenals set up during the previous regime when he was in office.

A magistrate court in the southern port city of Galle issued an order preventing Gotabhaya -- the powerful defence secretary under his brother's administration -- and three others from leaving the country until the conclusion of investigation.

The court also impounded their passports, police said. "Police investigating the Avant-Garde Security Service floating armoury case sought and secured a ban on their travel abroad," police said in a statement. In January, shortly after the defeat of the President Rajapaksa, a ship carrying 12 container loads of weapons was discovered in Galle.

The ship was carrying over 3,000 automatic weapons, including machine guns.