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Navy to prepare new operational procedures

The Navy yesterday decided to prepare new operational procedures in dealing with special circumstances, following shocking allegations by the Navy commander that the leak of information allegedly by the Scandinavian truce monitors had foiled a Navy operation to track down an alleged LTTE arms smuggling ship, the Defence Ministry said.

Defence Minister Tilak Marapana and Defence Secretary Austin Fernando yesterday met the Naval top brass in the Eastern Command led by Rear Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda (COMEAST of the Navy) to discuss Thursday night's incident where an alleged Tiger ship was believed to have had escaped from the Navy due to a possible leak of information.

"It was decided at this meeting that new operational procedures have to be prepared immediately in dealing with these types of situations and they should be adhered to by all parties in the interest of the Navy, its personnel and the peace process, in which conflicting situations have to be avoided whilst ensuring the security of the country," a Defence Ministry said in a statement .

Meanwhile the Navy chief Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri and defence secretary Austin Fernando had sought clarification from the SLMM chief Tryggve Teleffesen as to whether and under what circumstances this information was leaked to the Tigers.

"The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has informed the Ministry that the SLMM had no intention of divulging any information but queried on any ships belonging to the LTTE that were heading towards the eastern coast," the statement said.

"The Defence Secretary and the Navy Chief have explained to the SLMM chief about the grave repercussions of such information falling in to the hands of the LTTE, whatever the intentions of the SLMM were," it said.

"It was agreed by the head of mission of the SLMM that any information of this nature will not be dealt within this manner".

When contacted by the Daily News, the SLMM spokeswoman Agness Bragadottir said she was unaware whether the SLMM has contacted the Tigers to verify whether LTTE vessels were sailing off the East coast, as mentioned in the Defence Ministry statement.

She said she was not updated of Saturday's meeting between the SLMM chief, the Defence Secretary and the Navy commander.

"The Navy contacted the SLMM on Thursday about the movement of an alleged LTTE vessel about 250 nautical miles east to Trincomalee and requested a Naval officer to be on board one of their Fast Gun boats. So a monitor went with the Navy boat to the suspected location, but it was informed that no clue of a suspected vessel was found,' she said.

She said she had no idea whether the Naval Monitor or the SLMM regional office had contacted the Tigers before or during the operation.

The Defence Minister is expected to meet the Truce Monitors this week to discuss the new operational procedures dealing with these sort of situations.

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