Arms seized, Tigers nabbed in East search operation

Several suspected LTTE operatives in the East were rounded up and arms and ammunition hidden in the area recovered by the STF during search operations conducted in the Ampara and Batticaloa areas last week.

A Police Headquarters communique said officers of the Arugam Bay STF camp acting on a tip off by an informant recovered a live hand grenade from a fallow paddy field in Samanthurai.

It was defused and handed over to Pottuvil Police for further investigation.

Officers of the STF camps in Palugamam, Wellawali and Kalawaya in a joint search operation arrested two LTTE suspects named Kuruppiah Thangaraja and Somasundaram Raja and handed them over to the Kalawanchikudi police for interrogation. Officers of the Arugam Bay STF camp also arrested six persons suspected to be involved in terrorist activities and handed them over to the Pottuwil police for interrogation.

All six suspects Pathmanathan Pathmarasa, Inoka Akilan, Vinai Nagasrasa, Ramalingam Ravindran and Pathmanathan Padma Purendran were from Mannar.

Six suspects who had allegedly damaged public property near the Kaththankudy Hisbullah Cultural Centre were also arrested by the officers of the Ariyampadi STF camp and handed over to the Kaththankudi police for interrogation.