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by Ranil Wijayapala and Trincomalee correspondent

The sailor who was under LTTE custody for nearly four and half months has reported to the Kattaparichchan Navy camp on Saturday morning after escaping from the Sampur LTTE camp, Navy sources said yesterday.

Sailor Ajith Dharmadasa was reported missing on May 13 when he was on a jungle training mission in the Kalumetiyankulam area in Trincomalee. It was later confirmed that he was under LTTE custody in Sampur.

The sailor after reporting to the Navy camp has said that he has been kept at a house near the Sampur LTTE camp. He said that he was harassed by the LTTE cadres on the first day of his arrest. He was later taken to a different venue and three unarmed LTTE cadres were deployed to guard him.

Sailor Dharmadasa has escaped from LTTE cadres saying that he wanted to answer the call of nature.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission was unable to get the sailor released despite their frequent discussions with the LTTE.

SLMM pokesperson Agnes Bragadottir told the Daily News yesterday that they were pleased to hear that the sailor was back with his relatives.

However, she said the SLMM would have been very pleased if the LTTE abided by the SLMM ruling by releasing the sailor. Meanwhile, another sailor attached to the Trincomalee Navy camp reportedly committed suicide yesterday after shooting himself in the head.

According to Navy sources he committed suicide at his guard point. He has reportedly written a letter saying that he committed suicide as he was unable to bear the harassment meeted out at the hands of lower rank Navy officers.

However, the Police teams investigating the incident has asked the Navy to hand over the alleged letter to conduct further investigations, Police sources added.

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